When Worlds Collide
by Aninika
Summary: Ryo left for one reason: to hide his past. Now stuck in the real world, Ryo has to come to terms with his past and help the tamers before both worlds are destroyed for good. The only thing is Ryo still has trust issues. Ryuki. R&R. M
1. Prologue

_**EDIT 8/13/11: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors.**_

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><p>~.::Prologue::.~<p>

**H**e sat there, legs dangling from a ledge that seemed to have no end. On his lap sat a grey laptop that he was directly and intently paying attention to. One hand was moving around the mouse pad while the other was leaned against his chin. Behind him roamed a very large and muscular red winged, metal plated head, dragon type monster. He was anxious and annoyed. His tamer was always on that computer. The dragon made his way over to his tamer and knelt besides him-growling rather loudly to catch the brunette's attention.

Ryo looked away from the bright screen that lit up the very dark and desolate area of the digital world. The area was barren and often filled with fog. It was the area that Baihumon, sovereign god of the West, guarded. Crevices filled a vast majority of the area, but the duo had grown accustomed to finding their way around. They never left. They weren't allowed to.

Ryo had been hiding something from everyone and the only ones that knew of his secret were keeping it hidden from everyone else as well. Staying in the digital world and doing what the Sovereign asked of him was the only way he could keep his secret. Staying in the real world would have eventually required him to unveil his secret and then they would turn on him, and he didn't know if he could deal with the thought of losing another group of friends.

"Yeah, I know it's kind of boring here, but we have a job to do." Ryo patted his partner gently on the metal plate.

Cyberdramon let out a low growl and stood up completely uninterested by their current mission; a mission that they had been given upon returning to the digital world six years ago. Ryo closed his laptop, gently placed it in its case and stood up.

"Well there is obviously nothing going on here. Would you like to check out another crevice?" Ryo asked as he placed the laptop bag over his shoulder.

The dragon type Digimon didn't respond he just pointed his head in one direction and Ryo took it to mean 'yes'. He climbed unto Cyberdramon's back and gripped tightly to the metal attachment from which extruded four red wings. Cyberdramon hadn't changed one bit; it wasn't in his programming to change. Ryo; however, had changed in more ways than one. He was no longer the 14-year-old boy that had a problem Digimon. Ryo Akiyama was now 20 years old and would be described as tall, tan, handsome and well built. Though he would never use those words to describe himself. Ryo stood six foot one inch, hair was still in its outrageous style, complexion still darker than all the other Tamers, and his muscle tone was quite built. Personality wise Ryo was still Ryo. He got angry more often, stopped letting people walk all over him, if he felt passionate about something he pursued it, but he still lacked people skills. He had grown fond of the Tamers, but he was still unsure if he could truly call them friends. Sure he had Kazu and Kenta as groupies, occasionally Takato would fawn over him, he even had a major crush on Rika, and out of all the Tamers she was the one he trusted the most. But besides being Tamers he didn't have much of a connection with any of them.

Cyberdramon flew with great speed looking for a crevice with some type of unusual activity. Rarely did they ever find one. When they came across a large crevice Ryo told Cyberdramon to land. They would set up camp for the night and go exploring in the morning, generally. Cyberdramon had something different in mind this night. He decided with or without Ryo that he was going to explore it.

Ryo jumped off the dragon and placed his bag down, but no sooner did Cyberdramon take full advantage of his tamer's current lack of attention. Ryo looked over to see the black dragon dive into the crevice.

"Cyberdramon!" Ryo shouted. "We'll explore this in the morning!" He sighed, for the dragon Digimon was long gone.

Knowing that his eyesight was nowhere near as good as Cyberdramon's during the night he made camp and opened his laptop. Even though he had full access to the internet not once did Ryo contact any of the other Tamers. Instead, he used the laptop to manipulate digital data. He created a new outfit for himself by this method. Instead of having a grey shirt with one long sleeve and the other ripped-he created for himself a shirt of the exact same color, but with short sleeves. The red bandana was now gone, and it was replaced by a red scarf. His pants were now black with a yellow line running down the outsides of the legs, and he finished the look off with brown foot conforming boots.

Out of the corner of his eye he notice a pink light. Far off was a data stream that Ryo made sure to keep his eye on. He watched it for a while and realized that it seemed to have no particular interest in heading towards him, so he took his eyes off of it and placed them back on the screen. Everything was going fine too until his laptop screen cut out and then fuzzed like when a television loses its signal. Then the screen went back to normal. Figuring that he had been up for too long, he decided then that it would be best to go to bed. Gently, he closed the laptop and placed it back in the case. He then lie down on his pre-made bed and closed his eyes just to get a quick flash of a bothersome image. Ryo sat up and looked around. Nothing. Even the data stream was gone. He shook his head. It must have been nothing. He went to lie back down when the data stream suddenly reappeared and swallowed him up.

He pushed himself up to see where he had landed. The area was dark, and he seemed to be in a freshly dug hole. Ryo climbed out of the hole and noticed that he was closed off in a small cement building with an open entrance and a gate around the perimeter. Ryo rubbed his head. Where exactly was he? The area looked much greener and much too man-made for it to be a typical place in the digital world. He then looked at his hand, because he had felt a slight sting. His hand was cut open, but no blood poured out. However, it hurt a lot. And then Ryo realized it, wide eyed and everything, he wasn't in the digital world anymore. He was in the real world…

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><p><strong>Hello, hello! I decided to wait until after you've read the prologue to give some information about what is going on. Well I've been gone for a very, very, very long time from fanfiction. net, but I've been around checking out stories ever so occasionally. As for this story in particular it is a long awaited work in process. This is the current story I wrote for NaNoWriMo (Are we even allowed to write fan fictions? Pssh I don't care!). However, I've restarted this story around four times now and this is the only part that I'm completely happy with. I have until the end of July to get this fan fiction complete, so then the story will be done and hopefully well on its way up here.<strong>

**As for this story, it heavily revolves around Ryo's past, so if you do not know his past story that's ok, because all will be explained in this story. However, if you are curious feel free to look it up. Obviously some things will be based on fact and then a lot of me fudging things around. If you have read any of my past stories you can tell that my writing style has significantly changed as well as many other things. I'm still a die hard Ryuki fan, so expect a lot of that. **

**Happy Reading! R & R**

**-Aninika**

**PS: Yes, some of the characters are OOC it's been six years they're obviously not going to be 100% the same.**


	2. Chapter 1

**_9/23/11 EDIT: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors._**

**Hello Hello! Well I finally finished the first Chapter, and I think I like it so far. I really like where the story is going. However, I do have a few things to mention. For Fanfiction purposes I had to make all highly explicit scenes less explicit, because otherwise I'd be violating the rules of this site. I will, more than likely, be posting this on my DeviantArt account, and if I do post it there it will be unedited. Also, I have to point out that I am following the American version of the ages and names for the characters. I grew up with the American version, and have never actually taken the time to watch the Japanese ones (I've seen bits and pieces). So I am in favor of the American version. So the ages go as follows: Ryo is 20 going on 21. Kazu is 19. Rika is 18, but she'll be 19 soon. Takato, Henry, Jeri, Kenta, Alice, Kai, Minami are all 18 and will turn 19 whenever. Suzie is 13. Ai and Mako are 10.**

**WARNING: Sexual content and explicit language. You've been warned.**

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><p>~.::Chapter 1::.~<p>

**R**ika lay on the tatami mats that covered her floor. Her face flushed, and she was gasping for air as sweat beaded from her body. Her nails were gripped as far into the floor as she could manage while a man lie in between her legs with his tongue vigorously demolishing her nether region.

"Ah!" She screamed silently hoping not to wake anyone else in the house. Though if anything were going to wake them up it would be her heavy labored breathing. Rika let out several low screams as she felt the man move his rough moist tongue all over and inside her. She was nervous, but even more afraid to show it. This had been her first time with a man in this way, and she was letting him do things to her that most men only dreamed about. Finally, his tongue accomplished the goal that it was set out to do. Rika began to quaver as she lost feeling throughout her body. She could feel nothing except for immense ecstasy as her body was thrown into an orgasm.

"Kisuke!" She began to scream as she bit her lower lip to silence herself, but in the end she bit down so hard that she drew blood.

The man between her legs removed himself from her vagina and moved towards her face, wiping his mouth with his arm- he looked at her and chuckled. Rika struggled to catch her breath as her body tried to retain any and all feeling that she had left. Her body continued to shake for a few minutes after she was sexually satisfied.

"What's so funny?" She wondered glaring at the man who was anything but intimidated by her.

"You'll let me do that, so why can't we have sex?" He asked staring at the girl as she tried to retain her breath.

"You're lucky I let you go this far!" She hissed in between breaths.

"It's virtually the same as what I just did except it's my dick instead of my tongue." He smiled while leaning over to kiss her.

Kisuke, a 20-year-old man with short silver hair and amber colored eyes, had been seeing Rika for a year now. However, she was doing everything in her power to keep him from forcing himself on her. Kisuke had made it quite clear that he wanted a sexual relationship with her from the start, but Rika was unsure of herself and of him. She wanted the person that she first had sex with to be the right one, and frankly she was at a point where she couldn't tell if he was ever going to be the right one. At this moment, oral was as far as he was going to get with her until she felt, if she felt, that she wanted to go further. Now Kisuke wasn't a bad person, and Rika didn't think of him as one, but he was incredibly horny and she wasn't which caused many problems between them.

"I said no, Kisuke!" Rika declared trying to push herself off of the floor. His button up over shirt was the only thing she was wearing and his hands were working at the buttons. She smacked them away.

"God, how horny do you have to be before I can fuck you?" Kisuke asked a bit angered.

Rika pushed him off of her and began to put her pants back on. "We're done for the night!"

"Oh c'mon babe you don't mean that!" Kisuke said crawling back over to her.

She rejected him once again. She was seriously fed up with him at that point. She didn't like how she didn't at all intimidate Kisuke, and the constant begging for sex was really starting to get on her nerves. She continued to put on her clothes- as she did she heard the wooden gate outside her house being pounded on and thought to herself that it was weird that someone would stop by so late. What was even weirder was that the knock just kept coming. She knew that she was going to have to do something quick otherwise everyone would wake up, and she didn't like the thought of that. Rika had snuck Kisuke into the house, like she had done almost every night, and feared what her mother would do if she had found out.

"I'll go and check to see who's at the door. You're going to come with me and leave when I check. Got it?" Rika snapped.

Kisuke frowned in disapproval. He really wanted her, but just like the wall that she was there was no entrance. Reluctantly, he agreed to go with her. It was better than letting her be a tease to him. Though she had done him a sexual favor prior to him satisfying her. In his mind it wasn't the same.

The couple wandered over to the wooden doors that guarded the Makino household from the surrounding areas. The redhead grew aggravated as the knock ceased to come to a halt.

"Yes, yes I'm coming! Just be quiet!" Rika barked. Whoever was at that door was going to get a piece of her mind.

The redhead started working at the lock on the gate while Kisuke pushed her hair aside so that he could make his way to her neck. Aggravated with him, she pushed him away, and opened the wooden doors a bit to see who was there. She opened them a bit wider when she saw who it was.

"Ryo?" Rika blurted. He was the last person she was expecting to see at her door. "What are you doing here? I thought you were still in the digital world!"

Ryo looked at the two people before him. "You seem a bit busy, so I'll just go bother someone else…" He turned to walk away.

"No wait! Kisuke was just leaving." Rika said as she snagged the back of his shirt.

Kisuke looked at her and then glared at Ryo. "Oh fuck no! Who's this punk? You're other boyfriend?"

Rika turned to Kisuke. "Really? You're going to accuse me of cheating on you?"

"It would explain why you won't have sex with me." Kisuke said thinking that he was being clever.

Rika just turned to him cross-armed and wearing a scowl on her face. "What did you just fucking say to me?"

"Look I'm just going to leave…" Ryo said not wanting to be part of the confrontation, but Rika stopped him.

"Kisuke, we're through!" Rika announced.

"Yeah, ok!" Kisuke replied sarcastically.

"Get the fuck out now!" Rika demanded.

"Excuse me?" Kisuke asked his tone harshly changing.

"She said leave." Ryo intruded.

"Excuse me, but who the fuck asked you anything?" Kisuke said turning his attention to the brunette. "Who the fuck are you suppose to be anyway? And what's up with that getup?"

"If you want to pick a fight pick a fight, but at least do what the lady asks first." Ryo snarled not really in the mood to deal with this guy.

Kisuke wasn't in the mood to fight, so he pushed his way out of Rika's yard. But before he left her sight he turned back around. "You know what? Fuck you, bitch, and thanks for wasting a year of my life!" He flipped her off and disappeared into the night.

Rika then turned her attention to Ryo. "So, what, did you just show up here to piss off my boyfriend so I'd dump him?"

"What? No! I didn't even know you had a boyfriend!" Ryo defended. "And if I recall I tried to leave!"

"Right… Well maybe if you kept in contact you would've known that about me!" Rika hissed. "So what do you want?"

"I need to get back to the digital world." Ryo told her urgently.

She narrowed her eyes at him, stepped back, and slammed the door in his face.

"Rika!" He shouted.

"Go talk to Yamaki then, and leave me alone! You've already ruined my life for one night!" She leaned her back against the door.

"Rika! Please…" He banged his head against the wooden gate. "I don't know where else to go…"

Rika tossed her cell phone over the door hitting him on the head. He bent over and picked the thing up.

"Search through my contacts until you find Yamaki. Call him then give me back my phone!"

He opened the cell and looked at it. "That's not what I meant! Look can we just talk?"

"Don't you have to leave?" She asked already annoyed by him.

"That can wait. Please, just talk to me." He begged.

She opened the door and looked at him. The man that stood before her was not the boy she remembered from all those years ago. He was different, much taller, more toned, hair and eyes were the same, but everything else about him seemed more defined.

"You left six fucking years ago. I have nothing to talk to you about!" Rika glared snatching her phone back from him. "Get the fuck out of my face. I don't want to see you ever again!" And with that she slammed the door on him again.

"Rika, please…" But he received no response.

Ryo stood outside the gate for a bit wondering if he should knock on it again. He congratulated himself on the fact that not only did he manage to piss Rika off, but also, somehow, managed to get her to dump her boyfriend. He knew that she was going to be angry with him over his entire disappearance, but he didn't have any of this in mind. Frankly, he didn't take into account that six years had passed. In his mind nothing was going to be different, at all. It was foolish of him to think so.

He stared at the door for a bit figuring that Rika was long gone and that he'd be lucky if she ever spoke to him again. After mentally beating himself, he shoved his hands in his pockets and headed off down the street.

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><p>"He fucking showed up at my house last night and angered Kisuke, and I was just so infuriated with everything that I dumped him!" Rika was shouting and pacing while chomping on an apple.<p>

Jeri sat at a wooden picnic table watching the redhead rant.

"Who's 'he'?" Jeri asked obviously missing some part of this conversation.

"Fucking Akiyama that's who! When the fuck did he get here anyway? I thought he was dead. Or better yet I wish he were dead. If I ever see him again I'll kill him personally!" Rika fired off some steam.

"It's not like Ryo forced Kisuke to break up with you…" Jeri said. "But it is surprising that Ryo is back. He's been gone for so long. It seems unreal, you know?"

Rika stopped pacing and shot a glance over at the brunette. "Whatever! By the way, I broke up with Kisuke not the other way around, but if Akiyama hadn't shown his ugly face then there would have been no reason for me to break up with him!"

"Ok for one Ryo is not ugly. He's never been. Two, I didn't know that Kisuke was the jealous type." Jeri mentioned while opening her bag and taking out some food.

"Huh? Kisuke is a severely jealous type. He's just not threatened by any of the other Tamers." Rika stated sitting down opposite to Jeri.

This peaked Jeri's interest. "So Ryo appears and Kisuke instantly sees him as a threat? Any idea as to why?"

Rika shook her head. "I don't care as to why. I just, I actually really liked him, and I was just so angry last night…"

There was a pause of silence between them before a guy came walking by and looked particularly at Rika.

"Hey Rika! I heard you and Kisuke broke it off! Call me sometime ok?" He sneered making a phone with his hand.

Rika looked over at him. "In your wildest dreams!" She shouted back.

He started walking backwards so that he could watch her. "C'mon humor me!"

"Never!" Rika shouted and then turned back to Jeri.

"You're really going to blame Ryo for what happened?" Jeri asked. "Can't you admit that maybe it's your fault or maybe that you two weren't really compatible to begin with?"

Rika gave Jeri a glare. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You said it yourself. Kisuke is an incredibly horny person. I do recall you telling me that it caused a lot of turmoil between the two of you."

"Yeah, well at least he never fucked my mother." The redhead leaned her head on her hand. She had some bad past experiences.

Kazu came running over to join their fun. "You guys are never going to guess who I found!"

"Was it by chance Ryo?" Jeri asked casually.

Kazu's face turned from excitement to peer annoyance. "Thanks for ruining all the fun!"

Jeri giggled and looked over the brunette's shoulder to see another brunette approaching their table.

"You brought him here? To college?" Jeri wondered a bit shocked.

"He was wandering around when I found him. I just figured he could come hang out for a day. You know, it's better than wandering around aimlessly." Kazu replied.

Ryo reached the table and waved. "Hey!"

"Man, it is just so cool having you back!" Kazu piped noticing that many of the women around campus were paying attention to him since he was hanging out with Ryo.

Rika folded her arms and looked away noticing Kisuke nearby.

"I'm going to try and talk things out with Kisuke. I'll come back over after I'm done. If there's still time that is." Rika never took her eyes off the silver haired boy and wandered over to him. She, frankly, didn't want anything to do with the unannounced brunette.

He watched her walk away, and then turned his attention back to the two at the table.

"I heard the ordeal from Rika. She's not too happy with you." Jeri mentioned.

Ryo closed his eyes for a second and then reopened them. "It's not like I went over there and threatened him with a knife. I said 'hi' and the dude flipped shit accusing her of sleeping around with me. She got angry and broke up with him, and then once he left she had the nerve to blame me for everything. I didn't know he was there. I also had no idea she had a boyfriend. I'm being accused of something I played no part in. I knocked on a door. That's all I did." He defended.

Jeri sighed. "Rika can be temperamental. You should know that. She hasn't changed all that much since the last time you were here. She's just a bit nicer when she wants to be."

"It's been six years, Jeri. How exactly am I suppose to know whether you guys have changed or not?" Ryo asked. It was then that he had noticed that Jeri had changed, but not personality wise. In fact, the brunette had grown herself a pair of huge breasts. He tried not to look at them.

Kazu slung his arm around Ryo. "Girls! Who needs 'em?"

Ryo sighed moving so that Kazu had to remove his arm. "I don't like being accused for something when I've done nothing wrong!"

After a few minutes of talking Rika returned frustrated and angry. She didn't return to the table, but instead walked right over to Ryo and slapped him across the face.

"You fucking asshole! Kisuke said he overheard you talking earlier with Kazu and referring to me as 'pumpkin'!" Rika yelled jabbing her finger into his chest. "He's refusing to go back out with me all because of your pestering existence. Why the fuck did you even come back to the real world? I liked it better when you weren't ruining my life!"

"Rika!" Jeri shouted. "That's enough!"

Rika shook her head. "You've ruined my life!" She screamed.

Ryo hardened his eyes, but didn't say a word to her. He let her yell at him even though he wasn't in the wrong. Ryo had always called her pumpkin, princess, or wildcat. He still didn't feel as though he was wrong for anything, but felt as though Rika just needed to lash her anger out at someone or something. He figured it'd be better if she took it all out on him rather than someone else.

She moved so that she could get right up into his face so that he could feel her breath and whispered in the harshest tone she could muster: "I hope you die!" She said nothing else after that. She didn't talk to Jeri or even Kazu. Instead she turned around and stormed away.

Ryo touched his fingers to his cheek feeling it start to swell where she had slapped him. She managed to pack a lot of power into that slap, and he knew that it was going to sting for a while, but he was new to the entire sensation of pain. It perplexed him as well as astounded him, because he had forgotten what it was like to feel pain. He lifted up his other hand and looked at the cut from yesterday. It didn't hurt anymore, but the type of cut he received should have bled. And it was at this point that he realized the real world was perhaps more foreign to him than the digital one. Ryo, who called himself human, was starting to realize that he didn't know, he didn't remember, what it was like to be human again. The time that he had spent in the digital world had placed long-term effects on his body, and it would probably be a while before his data converted back into organic matter. In the mean time, he would experience what it was like to be human again without actually being human.

"Are you alright?" Jeri wondered.

Ryo looked at her. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed her move from the table to standing in front of him checking his hand and his cheek.

"I'm fine…" He said snapping back into reality. He looked over and saw where Kisuke was standing. He was talking with a bunch of other people and laughing. He didn't look like someone who had just suffered from heartbreak. "She really loved him didn't she?" Ryo asked still looking over at Kisuke.

"I don't know if you'd call it love, but perhaps more of a very strong admiration." Jeri spoke calmly, like a mother to a child who had been crying, because his favorite toy broke. "Kisuke is a bit of a horn dog, and Rika never liked that too much. But she did care very much for him, or at least she played it off very well. I don't think I've ever seen her so happy with a man except for…" and then she caught herself and stopped.

Ryo turned his attention back to her at that point and stared at the small brunette that was examining his hand.

"I'm sorry!" She laughed nervously. "Rika's always telling me that I talk too much!"

Ryo just watched her and sighed. "She's liked someone more than Kisuke?"

Jeri looked at him and shook her head. "It's not my right to say. You'll have to ask Rika about that. But anyway I have to get going to class. It's good to see you again, Ryo. Stop by the Matsuki's bakery sometime!" Jeri bowed politely and head off.

"Girls get emotional over everything!" Kazu stated with his arms placed behind his head. "So, do you want to check out more of the campus?"

Ryo's attention was turned back to Kisuke again.

"Hey, earth to Ryo-man! C'mon let's go!" Kazu waved his hand in front of Ryo's face only to have it swatted away.

"I'm going to go talk to Kisuke." Ryo stated.

"What? You've got to be kidding! Rika will just get pissed when she hears that." Kazu was astounded by his persistence.

"Perhaps, but I feel I need to do something…" Ryo showed off his trademark grin. "Otherwise she'll hate me forever, and I can't have that!"

"Dude, this is perhaps the stupidest idea I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of stupid ideas. I do hang out with Kenta and Takato you know!" Kazu said deep down hoping that his all time hero could be ranked far higher than either of those two.

"We're men, Kazu. We do stupid shit." Ryo laughed and started walking towards Kisuke.

Kazu's day had started off pretty good, but now he was questioning where it would go from here. He woke up in the morning and found that he had a full outfit, underwear included, that was completely clean. He found a quarter on his way to college, and also found that, with said quarter, he had enough money to buy a soda. And on his way to college he found the best part of his day: Ryo.

Out of all the Tamers that had been openly affected, Kazu took Ryo leaving again the hardest. Kazu had been looking up to the Legendary Tamer ever since his first appearance in the Digimon Grand Prix. Sure Kazu didn't personally know Ryo at the time, but he felt that a kid who could win a tournament and still be completely humble about it had to be the greatest person to ever exist. But just like Ryo's sudden appearance, his first disappearance was just as sudden. And when they found him again in the digital world, well Kazu felt like he had a reason to live again. Ryo gave Kazu the strength he needed to stand up for himself. Kazu, now 19 years old and the second oldest Tamer, felt as though he was literally walking on sunshine.

"Kisuke." Ryo said approaching the silver haired man.

"Who told you to call me that?" He asked insulted.

"I'll call you whatever you like, but that's not why I'm here." Ryo said. The two men stood across from each other, nearly the same height and of the same build.

Kisuke crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

"Take Rika back." Ryo said making more of an order than a suggestion. "Those nicknames I call her were just something I did to annoy her years ago. I'll stop calling her by them if that'll solve your issue. Also, I just got back in town last night. I've been gone for six years, so there's no possible way that she and I have been fucking behind your back. Just do me a favor and take her back."

Kisuke started laughing. He looked back to his friends who were also chuckling and then turned back to the two brunettes standing before him.

"Did she ask you to do this?"

"Have you seen her flip shit on me? She's not really talking to me per say." Ryo mentioned.

"Some friend you are then. Well you should know that Rika was fun to fool around with, really. The thing is that I'm not looking for a long-term relationship. I want a fuck buddy, and Rika's got a wall built around her vag. Don't get me wrong, she's the hottest girl on this entire campus, but celibacy isn't my thing." Kisuke chuckled. "I used you as an excuse to get her off my chest. I'd rather her be mad at you than me. That bitch is crazy! You'd think after a year I'd at least get some ass." Kisuke then placed a hand on Ryo's shoulder. "So, I guess I should be thanking you."

Ryo exhaled deeply and looked directly into Kisuke's face. Without even giving him a second to think Ryo's fist made contact with his nose and knock him straight to the ground. Kazu ran over to Ryo to make sure that he didn't do anything else.

"You'd better watch what you fucking say about people! Rika's my friend, and I hate low life scum like you who hold yourself in a godlike manor. You bastards make me sick! Rika isn't an item she's a person with feelings!" He shouted. He couldn't stand men like Kisuke. Anyone who belittled a woman was the scum of the Earth in his eyes.

Kisuke sat up and wiped his face with the palm of his hand noticing that he was bleeding vigorously from the nose. His friends ran over to him and offered to help him to his feet. He waved them off, and then got himself up and started laughing.

"I get it now you really like that bitch, but judging on the way she treats you I'd say it was a little one sided." Kisuke wandered closer to Ryo, so that the only thing that stood between them was Kazu. "I've done things to her that you will only ever dream of doing to her. And even if you do somehow manage to get her you'll have to try and do better than me. That's right, Rika will compare your actions to me." He laughed hysterically. His friends were behind him prepared to fight.

Ryo tried to push past Kazu, but he stopped him.

"Hey, man, cool down!" Kazu said. "He's a cocky bastard."

Kisuke stood there smiling and waiting to see if Ryo would do anything further.

"Be sure that the next time we meet you won't be able to get yourself back up." Ryo threatened. It normally wasn't like him to be so aggressive, but Kisuke seemed to know how to press his buttons.

"Right." Kisuke laughed sarcastically and then called his group of friends to follow him.

Kazu continued to hold Ryo back to ensure that he didn't do anything stupid. When Kisuke was out of sight, Ryo broke free from Kazu.

"He's fucking lucky I didn't beat the shit out of him!" Ryo growled pacing around.

"Now what's all this about you liking Rika?" Kazu asked as Ryo stopped dead in his tracks.

"What? I didn't say I liked her! He went off on the rant all on his own! God, the last time I talked to her was six years ago… God… is that what everyone thinks? I haven't even been back for a day and you all think I'm trying to get in Rika's pants?"

"No! But I mean you have been alone in the digital world without any human contact, and you did have a pretty big crush on her." Kazu mentioned.

Ryo scoffed. "So, that means that I decided to appear here in the real world six years after I left, because I'm fucking sick of masturbating and want ass? If I wanted fucking ass I'd get fucking ass. I wouldn't wait around for Rika! I'm so glad to know that you are all so narrow minded!"

"Hey, now don't go there! No one really thinks that at all. Kisuke is just a bastard and I was just drawing conclusions. The only person who probably thinks that is Rika." Kazu said in hopes of cheering Ryo up. "I mean I'm sure the others do think that you will try to go after Rika again. But if you're really not interested in her then don't worry about it."

"Look, I'm just going to go." He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Um…hey thanks for showing me around your campus. I'll…um… I'll see you around." Ryo said and quickly walked over to the campus entrance.

"Ryo…" Kazu whispered defeated.

* * *

><p>"What the fuck did he do to Kisuke?" Rika yelled, as she made her way over to the area where Takato, Kazu and Kenta were sitting. She had just come from the infirmary after hearing from a friend that Kisuke got punched.<p>

"What happened to Kisuke?" Takato asked completely unaware of the situation.

"Hey, before you get mad at Ryo hear me out!" Kazu demanded.

"And why the fuck would I do that?" Rika asked glowering over Kazu.

"Because Ryo defended your fucking ass in front of that low life cretin. If I were you I'd thank Ryo for breaking that punk's nose!" Kazu argued feeling the need to do such a thing with Rika was a rare occasion, but today was going pretty good for him, so he decided to take a chance.

"Whoa, what happened?" Kenta asked looking at all his friends.

Kazu turned his attention back to Rika. "Now are you going to sit there and be reasonable or are you going to continue to PMS? If you're leaning towards the second one then get the fuck out!"

Takato and Kenta were thoroughly surprised that Kazu was standing up to Rika and that she wasn't kicking his ass. Rika in all her fury just sat down across from the boys- never taking her eyes off of Kazu.

"Ryo went over to talk to Kisuke to tell him that everything he had heard was a lie. Kisuke said that he didn't care and that you were just a bitch, and just something he liked to fool around with, but you weren't giving him what he wanted, so he used Ryo as an excuse to not get back together with you."

"Is that it?" Rika asked.

"Yes."

She stood up and smacked Kazu as hard as she could. "Don't ever speak to me like that again!" And stormed out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>So here's Chapter 1. I do hope you enjoyed! Chapter 2 is a WIP. Also, the chapters will probably be released very slowly until after June 30, because that's when my deadline is. R &amp; R please!<strong>

**-Aninika**


	3. Chapter 2

**_12/25/11 EDIT: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors._**

**Hello, hello again! So, I finally finished editing this chapter, I think. I don't think I'm going to have this finished by the deadline, but that's ok. I'll manage to live somehow. Thanks for all the reviews :D they are much appreciated. I haven't posted this story up on DeviantArt, yet, but when I do I'll post something on here. The only difference will probably be the unedited sex scenes or anything that is considered too risque for this site. So, here's chapter 2 it's a bit short, but we establish some things. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 2::.~<p>

**R**yo stood outside the tall Hypnos building wondering if he should head inside or if he should pretend he never came all this way. His fight with Rika was a bit unexpected, and he was getting tired of wandering around and sleeping in the park. A comfy bed to sleep in would be nice, and he also figured that getting in contact with Yamaki wasn't a bad idea. Hypnos was designed, after all, to track Digimon. He couldn't think of a better way of finding Cyberdramon. So, finally, he decided to head into the building and went to the specific area that he knew Yamaki would be in.

There the man with blonde hair, a suit, and sunglasses stood flipping open and closed a metal lighter. Hovering above him, on a chair, were two women: one blonde and one brunette, typing away on some very colorful looking keyboards, tracking Digimon and other phenomena in both worlds. Ryo took a step into the room. The step echoed throughout the chamber, and this caught the blonde man's attention.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Akiyama. I figured I'd be hearing from you soon."

"How so?" asked Ryo joining Yamaki where he stood.

Yamaki smiled, "We detected some strange data movement within the digital world. I don't know the specifics of your 'mission,' but I do know that you are keeping track of unusual… circumstances… in the digital world. I figured you would have known about it in some way."

"Then you'd be very surprised to know that I have very little knowledge of what actually goes on in the digital world. I know my mission and I know what the Sovereign tell me. That's all." Ryo said as politely as he could think to.

"There was a data stream two nights ago that was very unusual. It seemed to have a target. We tracked it and watched it head into the area where you were known to be staying." Yamaki removed his sunglasses and was now looking at Ryo. "And here you are…"

The male brunette looked back up at the giant screen before him. "It didn't seem very unusual. I watched it, as I usually do with data streams, but it wasn't coming in my general direction. Next thing I knew I was here eating dirt."

"Guilmon's old hideout, hm?"

Ryo nodded.

"There seems to be a lot of unusual activity going on in the digital world recently, but its nothing that I'm too particularly worried about. However, it is enough to require some attention." Yamaki placed a hand in his pocket. "Now I must ask you something. What is your mission exactly?"

Ryo smiled. "The Sovereign told you I had a mission?"

"That's all they would say."

"I'm not to speak the details of it, but know that as of now it doesn't concern you or the other Tamers, so don't worry."

"And when it does require my attention?" Yamaki asked.

"Let's hope that doesn't happen."

Yamaki smiled slightly, "So tell me Ryo. Why are you here?

"I need to get back to the digital world."

Yamaki sighed. "That's virtually impossible. The gates have closed."

Ryo didn't know what to think. Now he was going to be stuck in the real world without his partner. What would the Sovereign do if they knew that he was not there? And was it safe to bring Cyberdramon to the real world? He could only imagine the destruction he would cause. All Shinjuku needed was another Digimon running ramped through the streets.

As if Yamaki knew what he was thinking he said, "And your partner? It seems he's still in the digital world."

Ryo looked again at the screen. "That's an issue that I'm not sure how to address, yet."

* * *

><p>After talking for a while Yamaki managed to convince Ryo to stay with him and Riley. He felt bad for intruding in on their lives, but they didn't seem to mind at all. Both Yamaki and Riley treated Ryo as though he was family. Their five-year-old treated Ryo like a big brother. Ryo didn't mind this at all, because when he was younger he had always wanted a sibling, and he thought it was pretty cool to be looked up to by a younger kid.<p>

The Yamaki's house sat squished in between other houses on a very crowded street. The house had four bedrooms; one for Mitsuo, Yamaki's first name, and Riley, one for their son, one as an office, and the last was Ryo's current room. Ryo had been intruding on the Yamaki's for a week now, with very little contact with any of the Tamers, and he felt bad. Ryo wanted to see all his friends again, but, more importantly, he wanted to apologize to Rika for everything.

Ryo sat on the floor of his room, the lights off so that the room was lit only by the light that crept in through the blinds, his back was pressed against the wall. The door to the room was left open so that he could listen for Sen, the Yamaki's son. But Ryo was thinking about how he had pissed her off. Sure he should, or even could, have been worrying about other things. How was he going to get back to the digital world? Would he be able to find Cyberdramon? But still she pressed forward in his mind. Her anger, her fierce anger that he had never seen before. He knew that it was his fault she was so angry with him. If he hadn't left six years ago it wouldn't be like this. He was more surprised that the other Tamers weren't angry with him as well. Then he thought that he shouldn't make assumptions. It was too soon to say that the other Tamers weren't mad at him since all he had seen since returning were Rika, Jeri, and Kazu. Ryo looked over at the clock that sat on the desk across from his bed. The bright red digital clock read 4:30pm.

_Yamaki will be home soon._

He didn't mind taking care of their son while they were at work. In fact, Ryo seemed to enjoy the company that the little boy brought him. It had been so long since Ryo felt like someone actually cared about him. Sen was young and cared for a pile of dirt just as much as he cared for his parents, but, still, Ryo enjoyed it. Mitsuo and Riley even treated Ryo like he was their own son. Sure he was a bit too old to be their son, but they didn't treat him with any less respect. Ryo valued that. His own father didn't treat him as such, but this father wasn't… He paused in thought. He wondered how his parents were doing. They hadn't seen him in so long.

Ryo could hear the sound of keys being put into the doorknob. He slowly stood up and walked out of his room. Sen was sitting on the floor watching some cartoons on the television, and playing with some toys that he had pulled from his toy box. Riley walked in the house carrying a big paper bag filled with food from the day's shopping. She had left the door open because her hands were full. Ryo wandered over to the door and pulled her keys out, gently shutting it.

"Thanks, Ryo." Riley smiled placing the bag on the island in the kitchen. "How was he?"

"Quiet. He's never a problem." Ryo smiled.

"You just haven't seen him when he's in a bad mood, yet, is all."

Ryo turned his head back to the blonde boy sitting on the floor. His attention completely turned to the glowing screen.

"Well if you have anything that you need to do you're free."

Ryo turned his attention back to Riley and nodded. He walked over to the door and headed out. The house wasn't very big, but it seemed more like home than the place he lived in Fukuoka. He wondered to himself if he should even bother visiting his dad.

Ryo faced away from the door and noticed a redhead staring at him. She glared at him and started walking past.

"Rika!" Ryo shouted running down the front steps to catch up with her.

She rolled her eyes and in disgust she said: "Go away, Akiyama."

"Look, I just want to apologize!" Ryo said walking right next to her.

Rika stopped walking and directed her eyes towards him. He walked a bit further and turned towards her.

"I heard what you did to Kisuke." She began. "You punched him in the nose and broke it!"

"Yeah, I did." He said calmly not really caring about the silver haired male.

"That's all you have to say?" Rika asked crossing her arms.

"He deserved it." Ryo stated fixing a hair that was in his face. "You should have heard what he said about you!"

Rika held up her hand. "Save it! Kazu told me everything."

"And you're still mad at me?" Ryo questioned knowing that this was useless.

Rika sighed. "I suppose I should be saying 'thank you,' but I'm not in the mood. No matter what good you do for me or for the other Tamers, I will never stop hating you!"

Ryo was hurt, but he honestly had expected as much from her. She started walking again and pushed right by him continuing on her way home.

"Alright, I get it, you're still mad from six years ago. I understand, but is this necessary? I'm trying to apologize!" Ryo shouted hoping that she would stop.

Rika turned around. "Why does it matter what I think about you?"

"I've always cared what you think about me." He said.

"Get a new hobby…" She responded flatly.

Ryo's attention suddenly turned to his D-arc that was responding vigorously to something nearby.

"Rika!" A yellow canine materialized next to the redhead.

Rika took out her D-arc and watched as a screen appeared from it with a compass pointing her in the direction of a digital field. Ryo stood there doing the same thing, but wondered if it would be worth it to go or not considering the circumstances. But Rika didn't even have to think twice about it. She was already bolting down the street. She, however, stopped and turned back to the brunette who was hopelessly staring at his blue D-arc.

"Are you coming or what?" She asked. It wasn't like she really cared, but she figured he should do something other than just stand there.

Ryo nodded his head and ran in the same direction as her.

When they reached the field Rika went in without any hesitation. Ryo stared at it for a bit. It was his first time coming in counter with a digital field. It looked so much like fog, but the electricity waves that it generated were unreal. He pushed his way into the field, squinting because of the immense brightness that it emitted, until he found himself inside.

Rika stood inside gripping her D-arc while Renamon looked around for her target. Rika glanced back at Ryo and then chuckled.

"Where's Cyberdramon or whatever?"

Ryo looked over at her. "He's not here."

"Obviously. What did you forget him?"

Ryo shook his head. "No, he's still in the digital world."

"Well then you're useless to me." Rika announced. "Why don't you get yourself out of here before you hurt yourself? Can't get a scratch on your pretty face."

Ryo glared at her, "What is your problem?"

Rika smirked, "I find it amusing that the Digimon King is useless."

"Rika, I don't sense a Digimon." Renamon mentioned scanning the area.

Rika placed a hand on her hip. "Well there has to be something here. It's not like a digital field appears for no apparent reason." She turned to Ryo. "What do you think, hotshot?"

He was puzzled. "Why are you asking me? Since when do you care about my opinion?"

She shrugged. "I figured maybe the Legendary Tamer might have been of some use. Guess I was wrong."

"Do you enjoy mocking me?" He wondered, angered. "All you've done since I've been back is yell at me, tell me you want me dead, and mock me. I'm fucking sick of it. Figure this out on your own!"

"You make it too easy, Akiyama." Rika smiled, but Ryo just glared at her.

"Something did come through here." Renamon mentioned. "But I can't seem to locate it."

"Well that doesn't tell me anything, Renamon!" Rika growled.

"Are you always this mean to your partner?" Ryo asked almost laughing.

"Who are you to say anything?" Rika hissed. "At least Renamon obeys me!"

Ryo clenched his fists. "Yeah, well at least I don't treat Cyberdramon like shit! He may be hard to control, but at least I recognize that he has feelings. You know…" Ryo laughed. "…I heard you once realized that Digimon were our equals. Maybe you should spend some time in the digital world again. Seemed to do you some good last time."

"And maybe you should work on your communication skills. Oh hi I'm Akiyama, Ryo. I've been in the digital world for six years without any contact with my friends or family. Bang me!" Rika mocked.

"Excuse me? Did I ask you to have sex with me?" Ryo shouted insulted.

"I'm sure that's what you want!" Rika scoffed. "It's written all over your face."

"No, you know what's written all over my face? How disgusted I am with you. You're a fucking narcissist!"

"You don't know me!" Rika screamed.

"Yeah, you're fucking right! The Rika I remember wasn't anything like you!" Ryo jammed his hands in his pockets and turned his head away from her. "I liked her better…"

Rika was sick of hearing him talk. "Yeah, well the Ryo I knew wouldn't have just decided one day that he was better off in the digital world without any explanation as to why. The Ryo I knew would have kept in contact with his friends. Where's the Ryo I knew?"

Ryo turned his head back to her. His face softened. "I'm sorry…"

"No, you're fucking not! If you were then you wouldn't have done all this in the first place! All the Tamers always made fun of me for not letting anyone in, but I at least started to. You wouldn't let anyone in, and then threw fucking 30 locks on to make sure that the door would never open. You're a fucking wall!" Rika shouted.

"Alright I get it I'm a fucking wall! What do you want from me?" He shouted back.

"You once told me to trust you, and I did. But have you ever trusted someone other than yourself?" She asked.

He stared at her with a hard expression. His eyelids refused to close. His look serious. "No!" He declared.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She scoffed. "And you wonder why I want nothing to do with you."

He stood there in silence not sure of what to say. Trust was an obstacle that Ryo, at one point, welcomed. He had trusted people before, but they betrayed him. He learned that it was better to not trust than to trust and be betrayed. But he never realized that his trust issues affected other people.

"Rika…" He said with a slight hint of regret in his voice.

"What?" She asked cross-armed.

"Watch out!" Renamon shouted pushing her tamer to the ground to avoid whatever it was.

Rika pushed herself off the ground and looked around wondering what had just happened. Renamon stood up and looked around, but the figure was gone. Rika dusted herself off when she stood up.

"What was that about?" The spitfire redhead asked angered.

"Something was coming to attack you." Renamon replied trying to figure out where it went.

The redhead looked around and noticed that she didn't see Ryo anymore. She figured that he had bailed until she saw something unusual coming from the corner of her eye. Ryo was lying on the ground, his image becoming fuzzy and hazing in and out. Bits of data were breaking off from his body and floating into the air.

"He's still data." Renamon stated knowing that her tamer was wondering what was happening to him.

Rika knelt next to him. "Idiot, why didn't he just get out of the way?"

"Like you, he didn't see it coming." Renamon mentioned. "It's waiting for us to let down our guard."

"What is it?" Rika asked.

"A Digimon that's particularly good at hiding its scent." Renamon replied. "We'd better get him out of here. He's as good as data."

"Can a human burst into data?"

"He's been exposed to too much of it. He's the same as any Digimon right now. Who knows how long it will be before he becomes human again."

"God dammit, Akiyama. You can't make things easy now can you?" Rika hissed.

* * *

><p><strong>Well that's it for me! R &amp; R Please!<strong>

**-Aninika**


	4. Chapter 3

**_1/2/12 EDIT: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors. ADDED: Fixed a couple plot holes that appear later in the story._**

**ZOMG I updated quickly xD Hey everybody we hit the beginning of one of the plots YAY! Lol. Thank you so much for your reviews! And now I'll just clarify a few things. While Ryo was in the digital world for six years he never once came back to visit, because as part of his mission he cannot. His mission will be referred to a lot, mostly by Yamaki who wants to know what it is, but it'll be a while before I reveal it. Also, Ryo is a virgin ZOMG. He was 14-15 when he left with no real particular interest in sex. And now we've hit a very very small part of Ryo's past and since the games didn't do that great of an explanation on everything I had to bullshit some of it. For my purposes it's the truth! BUWAHAHAHAHAHA :D Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Oh BTW I changed the name of the story (slightly) more like altered it. It's more fitting now. xD**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 3::.~<p>

**R**yo awoke in his bed later on that night with no recollection of what happened or how he got there. He heard commotion outside his room and decided to listen to what was going on.

"I should have figured that staying in the digital world for so long would have had long term effects on him." Yamaki said while fiddling with a pencil. "And what was this Digimon that appeared?"

Rika shrugged. "It didn't have a scent and after a bit the digital field dissolved and the Digimon was no where to be found."

Yamaki looked over at Riley who was playing with Sen. "We'll have to check the systems tomorrow and find out what is going on. As for Ryo-" He paused seeing the brunette come out of his room.

Ryo felt woozy, but he needed to know what was going on. What had happened to him? What was happening to him? The data in Ryo's body was still unstable, but more manageable than before.

"As for Ryo what?" He asked.

"I'm going to have the Monster Makers take a look at you." Yamaki stated putting the pencil back on the table.

Rika was leaning against the wall, but now that she saw that Ryo was ok she decided that it was best for her to take her leave.

"Jeri wants you to meet us at the park tomorrow." Rika said. "That's if you don't burst into 1s and 0s before then."

Ryo nodded his head slowly and watched the girl walk out of the house. He then turned his attention back to the Yamakis, to Mitsuo in particular who was just staring at him. Ryo was wandering around without a shirt on, but he didn't think that was the reason why he was staring. Though it did make it easier for them to see what was happening to him.

"Why are you so bent on returning to that place?" Yamaki asked after a few minutes of silence.

Ryo smiled in his usual trademark way. "Digimon aren't as moody as humans."

Yamaki chuckled. "Alright, keep your secrets, but you could end up doing so much damage to your body that the effects won't be reversible. You'll remain data for the rest of your life."

"As long as I stay in the digital world I'll be fine." Ryo replied.

Yamaki shook his head. "Yes, but you'll be considered a freak among humans."

"I've got no intentions on falling in love or starting a family. I'll live with being a freak."

"Fate has a funny way of changing our minds." Riley chimed in.

Ryo didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't but Yamaki was still interested in Ryo.

"After you meet with the Tamers I want you to stop by Hypnos. I want to see what's going on with your body." Yamaki talked to Ryo like he was a specimen, and Ryo wasn't sure if he liked that.

It was true that no one had seen Ryo like this. He had only been back for a week and in that time all he managed to do was cut himself, but no one was around to see it happen. But he hadn't expected this. He hadn't expected to be treated like an alien. And then it came to him. If they knew about him they would treat him just like an alien.

* * *

><p>"So, Ryo, what were you doing in the digital world?" Jeri asked.<p>

It was a beautiful sunny day and the Tamers were having a picnic outside in Shinjuku park, right under a giant cherry blossom that was well past its blossoming.

Ryo picked his head up from his drink. "I work for the Sovereign. It's nothing important, but I'm not supposed to talk about it. It keeps me rather busy though."

The Tamers were very unsatisfied with his answer.

"C'mon Ryo that's really all you can tell us?" Kazu whined. "How did you get back here?"

Ryo turned his attention to Kazu. "A data stream picked me up, and next thing I knew I was in Guilmon's old hideout."

"You came through the portal?" Takato wondered a bit surprised.

Ryo shrugged not really knowing if he did or not.

"Nah, he couldn't have, that portal has been defective since our Digimon came back." Kazu piped up.

"Defective?" Ryo asked vaguely remembering what Yamaki had told him.

"For some reason no one can go through it anymore." Takato sighed.

"That's interesting, I didn't know that the portals ever stopped working." Ryo said and then turned his attention to the redhead who was scowling and leaning under the cherry tree.

She was staring at Ryo. Not because she liked him, but she wanted to see if his data was still acting up. Besides Ryo and the Yamakis, Rika was the only other one that knew about the strange phenomena that was Ryo. Ryo figured that was probably why she was looking at him, and the weird thing was that she didn't even try to hide the fact. He figured that some of the other Tamers were going to say something about her staring, but it seemed like no one actually took notice. Either that or they just didn't care.

"Ryo we have totally got to battle sometime!" Kazu blurted gaining Ryo's attention.

"Really, Kazu, you still play that game?" Ryo chuckled referring to the Digimon card game.

Kazu was a bit disappointed by hearing this. "You're telling me that the Digimon King has retired?"

Ryo shook his head. "I've been doing the real thing. Playing the game just seems like a waste of time now."

"C'mon Ryo!" Kazu whined.

"Yeah, Ryo, you just can't give up like that!" Kenta joined in.

Rika walked over and slammed her hand on the table. "Maybe he's just saying that because he doesn't want to embarrass you two at a child's game. You two still aren't any good."

Kazu made a sour face. "Yeah, we'll see Rika. I can kick your ass at this game any time of day."

"Try me!" Rika challenged.

"You just get angry when you lose. You're a sore loser. I'd rather play Ryo." Kenta mentioned.

"When have you two ever beaten me?" Rika asked wondering when in their wildest dreams that this happened.

"We haven't beat you, but Ryo has. And I'm sure he'd kick your ass again!" Kazu threatened.

Rika scoffed. "He doesn't play this game anymore." She then turned to Ryo. "If you beat Kazu then you'll play me!"

Ryo just looked at her and then smiled. "Just because I don't play the game anymore doesn't mean that I'm bad at it. I get enough experience with actual fighting, but sure if I beat Kazu I'll play you. On one condition."

Rika was curious, but not amused. "No, I will not go on a date with you!"

Ryo laughed. "I wasn't going to ask that."

"Then what?" She asked now slightly annoyed.

"Just don't get angry at me if I win. You've been angry with me enough lately. You'll get wrinkles." He pointed to her forehead.

She furrowed her brows and sighed. She was being nicer to him today than she had been since he arrived. She felt bad for what had happened to him, and seeing the fact that he was still data surprised her. She knew that the digital world converted any organic matter into data, but never had she figured that there could be lasting effects from exposure. But not only that, but she was surprised at herself because she did actually give two shits about him.

"Right, if anyone is going to get wrinkles it's going to be you. You're old!" Rika playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Pumpkin, I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me since I got here." He chuckled.

"Yeah, well don't get use to it." Rika retorted.

Ryo was happy to see that Rika was actually accepting his presence. He had a feeling that it had to do with what had happened yesterday, but still it was something.

"By the way…" He began as he took his cards out and placed them on the table. "What were you doing by the Yamaki's yesterday?"

"I just finished modeling." Rika replied.

"You model?"

"You really don't know anything about me do you?"

"…I'm sorry…"

Rika sighed. "Yeah, I model for some extra money. It keeps my mom out of my hair."

"Rika models everywhere! She's even modeled a few times for that American Playboy magazine." Kazu piped in. "I'll show you sometime!"

Rika leaned forward on the old wooden table. "No, you will NOT show anyone those pictures! I thought I told you to get rid of those!"

"It's a free country!" Kazu retorted slyly.

"I'll kill you!" Rika growled under her breath.

Ryo chuckled causing Rika to snap her head towards him with a deadly scowl. He shrugged.

"Anyway, go away Rika! This is man time!" said Kazu while cracking his knuckles.

"What did you just say?"

"C'mon, Rika. Leave them. Why don't you come over and hang with Alice, Suzie, and I? At least we're eating." Jeri said grabbing Rika by the arm.

"Yeah, go make your sandwiches!" Kazu laughed thinking that he was being clever.

Rika broke free of Jeri's grasp. She roundhouse kicked Kazu straight in the spine, jolting him forward and slamming his head off the table before falling to the ground.

"Want to run that by me again?" Rika was furious.

Ryo stood up and ran over to Kazu. "That was uncalled for, Rika."

"Oh shut up, or I'll do the same to you." She warned.

Jeri just stood by silently not sure what to do, but Ryo wasn't scared. He walked right over to Rika looming almost a full head above her.

"Try me."

Still feeling bad for what had happened to him yesterday she just turned and walked away.

"Fuck this! I'm going home!"

* * *

><p>Ryo lie on a cold metal table with wires stuck all over his body to measure all sorts of things. Shibumi stood nearby staring at the computer screen while the other members of the Monster Makers were sitting close by in a room.<p>

"I don't really understand why Yamaki wants us to look at him." Janyu stated while playing with his coffee mug.

"That boy is very unusual. I just don't feel right treating him like a specimen though." Daisy leaned on her elbow.

"His rare anomaly might be able to help us with something in the future, but right now it's just puzzling." Babble mentioned trying to look into the other room to see what was going on.

Ryo didn't like listening to them talk, so he turned his attention back to Shibumi who was staring intently at the screen.

"Your body is fascinating." Shibumi said after a while.

"Yeah, how so?" Ryo asked not being able to see anything.

Shibumi turned the screen for Ryo to see.

"You're turning back just very slowly, so right now you have a mix of data and organic matter in you, but they're coexisting. It's truly fascinating."

Ryo looked at Shibumi's face and turned back to staring at the ceiling. He definitely didn't like being treated like a specimen.

Dolphin walked in the room and right over to Shibumi. Ryo was getting used to them walking in and out of the room without saying a single word to him.

"How long do I have to lie here? This isn't exactly comfortable or warm." Ryo complained.

Shibumi looked away from what he was doing. "Oh, you're fine to unhook. I think we got everything we need."

Ryo got off the table and put his shirt back on. He then walked over to the two Monster Makers and watched them examine the screen. His body did look strange, but he didn't see it with the same interest that they had. He didn't even understand what they were going to do with the information they were getting from him. And by the sounds of it, the other members had no idea either.

Yamaki entered the room and called Ryo over to him.

"It seems something has come up." He said and started walking down the hall.

Not sure of what he meant Ryo followed him.

"Are you going to explain anything else?"

"The Digimon that you and Rika came across last night did just up and disappear. It seems that there is something going on between the two worlds."

"Shouldn't we call the other Tamers or something? Don't they need to know?" Ryo asked.

Yamaki just shook his head and entered his lab.

"Not now. You're the only one I need to talk to at this point."

Ryo stopped. "Why?"

"We seem to be having a situation here." Yamaki looked at Riley. "Pull up the screen."

Riley nodded and did as she was told.

"That Digimon last night appeared through a weak spot in the two worlds. The reason why Renamon couldn't find it was because it was manipulating the weak spots, going in between the two worlds freely. Generally, the types of Digimon that appear here tend to have accidentally come across a weak spot. They tend to be lower forms with little to no smarts, but this Digimon knew he could manipulate the weak spots." Yamaki said, but Ryo didn't understand what any of it meant.

"Alright, so a smart Digimon found its way here. So what?" Ryo asked.

"The thing is, the weak spots between the two worlds tend to be one way tickets. In the digital world they come across as data surges or data streams. Here, they appear in the form of portals. However, the border between the two worlds is blurring, and it won't be long before everyone starts noticing the effects."

Ryo just stood there in silence wondering how Yamaki knew all this.

"You've seen the two worlds collide before, haven't you?" Yamaki asked.

Ryo turned his head, but before he could speak Yamaki continued.

"It's not much now, but if you look at the sky you'll see random surges. They're not consistent and they don't appear all the time, but they're there."

"I don't understand what this has to do with me." Ryo said.

"Ryo…you're not from this world are you?" Yamaki removed his sunglasses.

Ryo scoffed. "What?"

"No, you're not even from this dimension." Ryo went to speak, but Yamaki silenced him. "I noticed there was something off about you over six years ago, but I couldn't place it. I found it unusual that your father didn't seem fatherly. What I found even more unusual was the fact that a 14-year-old boy wanted to leave this world with no intentions of coming back. But the one thing that really gave it away was your Digimon."

Ryo just stood there.

"You see Monodramon no longer exist. In fact, he was one of the original Digimon that the Monster Makers created. Now, how is it that a boy comes across a rare ancient Digimon?"

"I was there." Ryo said, his look serious, but he knew that Yamaki already knew what he was going to say. That; however, didn't stop him. "I was there at the beginning of the digital world."

"You'd be the same age as all of them." Referring to the Monster Makers. "The only way I suspect that you are the age you claim to be is that the digital world, where you come from, time goes by quicker than in reality. So your body was accustomed to the time difference and didn't age as it should have when you came over."

Ryo sighed. "Yes, I'm not from this dimension." To answer his question. "The world I am from is nearly identical to this one. The languages are all the same, cultures, lifestyles. The people are different. However, the reason why I am the age I am is because of my methods of time travel. I went back in time and then back to the present."

"I see." He paused for a second. "You hide in the digital world, because you don't want to adapt?" Yamaki asked, drawing conclusions.

Ryo shook his head. "My reasons are my own."

Yamaki chuckled. "You're a stubborn one. You're mother must have had a hard time with you."

Ryo looked at the screen. "I still don't understand what me being from a different dimension has to do with anything."

"Not only are the two worlds merging, but the two dimensions as well." Yamaki also looked at the screen. "We haven't seen the effects yet, but give it some time."

Ryo turned to Yamaki. "I didn't do this!"

Yamaki shook his head. "Yes, you did. When you stepped foot into our world you caused something greater than you could ever comprehend. This world had to adjust to you. Just one person. But it's incapable of that. So, to try and adjust it needs the help of its other half. The two dimensions have been slowly merging since your arrival, but now things are starting to happen very quickly."

"I didn't come here on my own." Ryo told him. "I was brought here."

"Whoever brought you here knew that this was going to happen. They wanted this to happen. So, Ryo what the fuck is going on?" Yamaki asked raising his voice.

"How the fuck should I know?" Ryo shouted.

"You know something, and whatever it is you've done a good job of hiding it." Yamaki accused.

"I'll go back to my world if that'll reverse everything!"

"It's too late for that. Now what are you hiding? Who would want all four worlds gone? What is your mission?"

"My mission has nothing to do with this. But I do know one being that would want to destroy the worlds, but he currently doesn't have the power to do so."

Yamaki moved closer to Ryo. "Who?"

Ryo uttered one word; "Millenniummon"

* * *

><p><strong>OMG I'm horrible with scifi! I'll mostly be explaining things through dialogue, because I cannot for the life of me explain scifi at all! R &amp; R :D<strong>

**-Aninika**


	5. Chapter 4

**_EDIT: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors._**

**Hi everyone! Once again thank you for your lovely reviews they make my day :3 Also I'm going to leave me answering your questions until after the chapter, because some of them might be answered in here :D If you have any questions feel free to ask and also I just want to remind that I'm not making up (mostly) Ryo's past I'm using information from the games that were released over in Japan. If you're curious you can always read up on them, if not I'm explaining it in my story anyway. :D Here's the next chapter. I post the chapter once I've started the one that comes after it. YAY Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 4::.~<p>

**"W**ho is Millenniummon?" Yamaki asked, practically demanding that Ryo tell him.

"The only being that could kill all four Sovereign without even trying. Millenniummon can control time and space. He's unstoppable and unbeatable." Ryo replied thinking about all he went through.

"You said he doesn't have the power to do so. Why?"

"Millenniummon is currently coexisting in a body that is not his own. And without my help he won't be able to return to his true form." Ryo clenched his D-arc.

Yamaki looked at the blue D-arc. "We need your partner."

* * *

><p>"You don't need to be so hard on Ryo." Henry said while walking with Rika through the park. Trees casting shadows on the both of them. It had been a full day since the last argument Rika had with Ryo.<p>

"You're telling me that you're not even a little bit angry with him leaving?" Rika asked. Her hair down.

"More like upset." Henry replied.

"I say let him do what he wants. If he wants to stay in that hell hole with Mr. Angry-Pants let him!" Terriermon said while sitting on Henry's shoulder.

"He has a point."

Rika folded her arms. "Sorry I'm not all zen like you guys. I swear you're becoming more like your sensei every day!"

Henry chuckled. "You two use to be so close. You know, he seems like a kid that's lost, and he's looking for familiar things to help him find his way. You're his most familiar thing here."

"Whatever!" She rolled her eyes.

"You have been a bit hard on him. Have you tried just talking to him? It seems like whenever you two talk you just argue with each other."

"I have nothing to talk to him about."

Henry placed a hand in his pocket. "Well, I can't make you talk to him."

"Damn straight!"

He decided to change the subject. "Have you talked to Kisuke since talking with Kazu?"

"Kazu is an asshole." Rika scowled. "Why would I listen to anything he has to say to me?"

Henry just gave her an 'Oh really' look.

"No, I haven't talked with Kisuke."

"Was that so hard?" Terriermon asked.

"Go play!" Henry ordered light heartedly.

Terriermon jumped off his shoulder and onto a bench in the park and started balancing on the backrest. He didn't particularly care for what he was doing, but he could tell that Henry wanted to talk to Rika privately.

The two humans distanced themselves a bit from Terriermon and stood across from each other.

"I do care about you. Don't forget that." Henry said.

"I know…"

"Why don't you give him a chance? And stop assuming that he wants to do you." He ordered, a bit.

"I'm not assuming that he wants to do me. He just angers me and I resort to false accusations to distance myself from him. I know they're not true." Rika said.

"All you're doing is hurting him. He comes off as strong, but I'm sure your words sting more than if anyone else said that to him."

"Right, lost kid syndrome!" Rika waved her hand. "Do you really think that's it?"

"Yes, he said it himself. He was picked up by a data stream and brought here. Cyberdramon is still in the digital world. He's disoriented, out of place."

"Don't go all philosophical on my ass. I don't care for it." Rika sat down on the ledge of the fountain.

"I'm not asking you to do him. Just give him some TLC. He needs it."

Rika scoffed. "Jeri's good for that. Not me."

"He'd be bugging Jeri if she was the one he needed it from." Henry said.

"It's not happening."

"At least treat him better."

Rika made a pouting face and sat there in silence for a while. "Fine…"

Henry smiled.

* * *

><p>Ryo entered the house and made his way to his room. Had Millenniummon known all along that bringing Ryo into this world would cause the two dimensions to merge? And if everything was happening according to Millenniummon's plan then was the jogress between Monodramon and him planned? Ryo lie down on his bed and lay his D-arc next to him. None of this would have happened if he didn't answer that distress call all those years ago. Things would have been different. He never would have met the Digidestined, Millenniummon or even the Tamers. He'd be at home with his mom and his dad. He'd probably have a girlfriend, fiancée or a wife.<p>

But what Yamaki had said bothered him.

"The two dimensions merging all because I came here…" He said out loud.

Yamaki even went on to tell him what would happen when the dimensions started adapting. It would start with an earthquake and then the world would expand filling in the missing pieces with the other world. The other dimension was merging with this one, so it would slowly tear it apart and put it back together. Ryo had asked Yamaki how he knew these things, but he had refused to say why. His information was coming from somewhere, and Ryo wanted to know who was giving it to him. But he had to worry about what would happen when the worlds became one.

"I figured I'd find you here." Rika said entering his room.

"Rika!" He was surprised.

"They keep making me run errands for them. I'm getting sick of seeing you." She stood in the doorway.

"What's up?"

"Yamaki wants to talk to us about something. I figured you'd be the first to know, but here you are."

Ryo sat up. "I already talked to him."

"I love useless trips." She rolled her eyes. "I'll see you later." She waved.

"Rika wait!" He stood up.

"What?" She asked.

"Why did you really come here?"

She placed a hand on her hip. "Yamaki is a boring old man. It's either listen to him talk or come find you."

"Is that the truth?"

"Yes." Rika said. "Why do you think I just wanted to see you?"

"No, I don't." Ryo walked over to her. "Can we just talk?"

"I should probably go see what Yamaki wants."

"I'll tell you what he told me. Please." Ryo had gently grabbed Rika by the wrist.

"I have nothing to talk to you about!" She broke her wrist free.

He re-grabbed it. "I know that you use to like me." He said. "More than a friend."

She hardened her eyes. "That was a long time ago."

"I was your first kiss!"

"What are you trying to get at?" Rika hissed. "I once did care about you. I cared about you a lot, alright? But I find you annoying and pestering. Just leave me alone!"

"I'm not trying to get together with you! That's the last thing I want. I'm just trying to understand why you hate me now!" Ryo shouted.

"So now I'm not good enough for you?" Rika growled.

"What?" He let go of her wrist and placed both hands in his hair wandering back over to his bed. "You're fucking confusing!"

"You just said the last thing you want is to get together with me!"

"Do you want us to be together?"

"No!"

"Then why the fuck do you care?" He sat down. "God, you're confusing!"

"Talking to you is useless!" She screamed.

"Talking to me?" He questioned, half-laughing. "You're yelling at me."

"If you weren't so moronic maybe I wouldn't have to!"

"Moronic?" He said.

"Yes, moronic."

"You're right we shouldn't talk." He stood up. "Yamaki wants you all to know that the digital world is merging with the real world and that another dimension is as well."

"What?" Rika asked. "How-"

"It's my fault, alright?" He said staring at her. "Now leave."

She narrowed her eyes, turned around and walked out.

"Someone had better tell me what the fuck is going on right now!" Rika shouted as she stormed into the Hypnos lab chamber. "And don't you ever send me to talk with him again!"

"Talking with Ryo must have gone real well." Takato said sarcastically.

"I thought I told you to talk to him?" Henry asked sternly.

"Tell him to be less of an asshole and maybe I'll consider talking to him." Rika barked.

"I have a feeling that you instigated him." Jeri sighed.

"Oh shut up!" Rika snapped.

"Rika!" Henry raised his voice.

"Are you done?" Yamaki asked arms folded and patiently awaiting for them to relax. "Now what did Ryo tell you?"

"About this or in general?" Rika asked not amused.

"About this situation."

"The digital world and another dimension are fusing with this one. He said it's entirely his fault. He wouldn't expand on it any further."

"Yes, that's the truth." Yamaki said. "We're not sure why the digital world is merging with this one, but we have a feeling that it has been since its creation. It has finally reached a point where we're going to see major effects."

"And what's this about another dimension? That's what you read about in science fiction novels or see in movies." Takato said looking at his partner. "There's no proof that other dimensions exist."

"I'd rather Ryo tell you the story since I don't know any of it, but the fact that there is another dimension merging with ours is directly his fault. And whether you believe they exist or not it's going to happen." Yamaki walked towards them. "Things are going to start happening soon. Be ready."

"That's really vague." Henry stated. "What are we to be ready for?"

"Right now we're tracking down Ryo's partner. Whatever is going on it directly has to do with him." Yamaki stopped and turned to the Tamers. "Have you ever heard of a being called Millenniummon?"

"It's only the strongest Digimon card." Kazu chimed in. "It's a DNA digivolution between Kimeramon and Machinedramon."

"Yes, we've been doing some research on him and from what Ryo says about Millenniummon I don't see how it's possible."

"How what's possible?" Jeri asked. None of the Tamers understood why Yamaki brought up Millenniummon.

"Ryo says that Millenniummon is a Digimon that can change the very essence of time and space. He's bent on destroying worlds." Yamaki relayed.

Rika looked over at Kazu, but he didn't seem to be saying anything, so she decided to speak.

"Millenniummon is a very powerful Digimon, but does not have that kind of power. However, there is a form of Millenniummon that does command that type of power. He's called ZeedMillenniummon, and if he is what Ryo is referring to we're all screwed." Rika warned. "That's if that's what we're up against anyway."

Yamaki nodded his head. "He said that this Digimon could take out the Sovereign without even trying."

"How does Ryo even know about such a Digimon?" Takato asked looking at the other Tamers.

"Because I've faced him before." Ryo declared walking into the room. "ZeedMillenniummon cannot be beaten."

The Tamers just stood there watching Ryo walk over to them.

"I fought Millenniummon a long time ago and beat him. I then fought him again a few months later as Moon=Millenniummon and defeated him. He then returned as ZeedMillenniummon and I could not defeat him. Instead he formed a jogress with Monodramon." Ryo informed them. "Monodramon cannot digivolve past champion level, normally, but when he and ZeedMillenniummon became one it allowed him to digivolve into Cyberdramon."

"What Ryo is saying is that Monodramon could digivolve in Millenniummon." Yamaki explained. "And if that happens we'll have a large issue on our hands."

Ryo shook his head. "Yes, that's true but Monodramon is capable of digivolving, but not into Millenniummon." Ryo paused. "No, he would digivolve directly into ZeedMillenniummon."

"You're fucking kidding me!" Rika laughed. "You're telling us that you're the tamer to the most powerful Digimon to ever exist?"

"Cyberdramon isn't out of control, because he feels like it." Ryo responded. "When Monodramon digivolves into Cyberdramon he has to fight for control. Millenniummon and Monodramon are polar opposites."

"Why didn't you just beat ZeedMillenniummon?" Kenta asked.

"Yeah, he seems like one bad cookie to keep." Terriermon announced, his little arms crossed.

Ryo closed his eyes and sighed. "ZeedMillenniummon told me something that bothers me to this day, but it's the truth."

After waiting for a response for a few minutes, Impmon growled. "Are you ever going to tell us or are we suppose to die from anticipation?"

Ryo opened his eyes and looked at the purple imp Digimon. "He said that he and I are yin and yang. We cannot exist without each other. His power is absolute and therefore mine is. But I cannot exist if he doesn't."

"You draw off each others life force." Alice added nonchalantly.

"ZeedMillenniummon was my true partner. He is me in digital form. I cannot kill him unless I too wish to die." Ryo announced.

"You should have done yourself a favor. Now, you expect us to have to face a Digimon that can't be beaten?" Rika yelled. "We have six megas on this team. Six! We can't even take out one Sovereign with the power we possess, but what you're saying is that we need to take out the most powerful Digimon to ever exist that can wipe out all four Sovereign without trying? We might as well off ourselves now."

"Monodramon cannot digivolve into ZeedMillenniummon without my help!" Ryo shouted back. "I'm not going to let that happen."

Jeri stepped forward. "But what happens when the worlds finally do combine?"

"Chaos." Yamaki said. "The planet will double in size to cope with the new dimension. We'll have humans and Digimon coexisting on the same planet where there will be no room. We're looking at our planet being filled with 13.8 billion people and every single Digimon."

"The worlds will be easier to destroy when they are all together as one. That's what Millenniummon wants." Ryo said.

Jeri placed a finger to her lip. "But why is the other dimension merging with our own?"

Yamaki looked at Ryo and the brunette sighed.

"I wasn't born in this dimension, but through Millenniummon I was brought here. I've been here since I was 12, but before then I lived in the Digidestined universe."

"Bullshit!" Rika shouted and stormed out of the room.

"Rika!" Ryo yelled, but she had already left the room.

Henry walked over to Ryo and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Go find her."

Ryo turned his head back. "I'm the last person she wants to talk to."

"Whatever is going on it has to do with you. Now go!" Henry ordered.

Ryo nodded and chased after the redhead.

"Do you think it's smart having those two together?" Jeri asked.

Henry just stood there. "I'm hoping."

* * *

><p>"Rika!" Ryo shouted as he ran down the hall. No idea where she went. He kept running until he found a little lounge in the building without any lights on. Inside sat the redhead by herself. "Rika…"<p>

"Go away!" She screamed.

"No!" He hollered back. "What's wrong?" He walked into the room and moved towards the back of the sofa that Rika was sitting on.

"You actually expect us to believe that you're from another dimension?" Rika laughed, her head hung.

"I don't care if you do or not. It's the truth."

"Why tell us now?" Rika asked.

_She's crying. Why is she crying?_

Ryo went up behind her and threw his arms around her neck and nestled his head on her shoulder.

"I've never meant to hurt you, ever." He whispered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice drained from crying.

"It was always my battle. I was afraid what would happen if you found out." Ryo said. "Like I said, I've always cared what you think about me."

"This is all true isn't it?" Rika asked placing her hands on his arms. Ryo didn't say anything. "What are we going to do if Millenniummon comes back? You said that if we kill him you'll die too…"

Ryo's eyes widened. He found it weird, but also comforting to know that she really did care about him. On the inside, after all, Rika was human and she did care about things other than herself. He held her tighter.

"I won't let him come back." He whispered. "I'm not going to die."

"I don't even know why I'm crying." She sniffled. "I haven't cared about you in six years."

"I'm not going to judge you." He said softly. "Everything has just been so overwhelming recently."

He was right of course. In the past two weeks Ryo returned after being gone for six years, Kisuke and her broke up after a year of dating, Ryo nearly burst into data, and now she knew his secrets, what he really is. It was quite possible that Rika just couldn't handle anymore bad news.

"If you tell anyone that I'm crying…" She sniffed.

"You? Cry? Never!" Ryo smiled. He got himself up and walked around the sofa so that he was in front of the teary eyed girl and knelt down. With his hands he wiped away her tears. "You're hair is getting long."

Her hair was just below her shoulder blades. And for some reason him saying that made her blush.

"I'm tired." She said never taking her eyes off the floor.

Ryo took her hand and helped her stand up. He smiled. "We'll find some place for you to sleep and I'll fill you in on the plan later. Sound good?"

She looked up at him, only inches away, right into his cerulean eyes. She didn't realize how much she missed those eyes, or even how fascinated she was by the color. Slowly she nodded her head.

The ground started to rumble and the building started to shake violently. Bits of the ceiling started to fall down and cracks appeared on the walls. Everything in the room was either breaking or falling over. Ryo held Rika tightly as debris fell all over them.

"What's going on?" Rika screamed causing Ryo to hold her tighter.

"Don't move!" He ordered.

Something from behind them came crumbling down and Ryo groaned in pain.

"What happened?" Rika asked her head being protected by his hand.

"Nothing. I'm alright just don't move." Ryo said trying to smile.

Rika could tell that it was fake. She knew that he was probably hurt.

A huge chunk of the wall and the ceiling came crashing down. Ryo shoved Rika to the floor trying to protect her from it.

_This isn't good!_

* * *

><p><strong>A lot happened in this chapter :S I had most of this chapter written before any of you reviewed the last one, so some of your questions were already answered before I knew what they were. Huzzah I'm magical :D (not at all) So here's my answer to the other questions!<strong>

**The four worlds are the Tamer's world and Digital World as well as the Digidestined's world and their Digital World.**

**Was Rika naked in the Playboy pictures and is Ryo going to see them? :D (I know that's not an answer) I might go back to it now that you brought it up.**

**Are the Digidestined going to make an appearance? Also :D (I don't want to say more than that at this point in time)**

**Yeah, sorry about the whole Ryo's a virgin thing. There's a reason behind it and we've touched it a bit in this chapter and last chapter (I think). He's, pretty much, afraid of what will happen if someone gets too close to him, considering his past. He's also never had a girlfriend and as far as this chapter explains all he's done is once kissed Rika. I'm going to try and explain more about the reason behind Ryo leaving for the digital world in the next chapter or sometime soon.**

**'Til then!**

**-Aninika**


	6. Chapter 5

**_EDIT: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors._**

**So, yesterday was a good day for writing. It's summer and I literally have no life at this point, so I stayed home all day and finished this chapter and wrote the next. I find it amusing, and sad, that I read these chapters about five times each, but anywhere up to ten times before I post them, and then I go back and re read them again and find a bunch of things that I shouldn't have missed the first time. CRUEL, CRUEL WORLD! The same as last time, I'll answer any questions as the end of the chapter xD. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 5::.~<p>

**T**he ground started to rumble in the lab. Yamaki looked up and pulled off his sunglasses.

He narrowed his eyes and said: "It's already beginning."

Jeri forced herself over to Yamaki, barely being able to stand. She nearly fell when Takato caught her. She looked at him and smiled. She then returned her attention to the blond man who was just staring at the ceiling.

"What's going on?" She shouted.

"The dimensions are merging." Yamaki seemed unfazed by the earthquake.

"Where are Ryo and Rika?" Jeri asked Takato still trying to hold her from falling while trying not to fall himself.

"Hopefully some place safe." Yamaki turned his head towards the brunette couple.

* * *

><p>After a while the shaking ceased and Ryo pushed himself up from the rubble that he acquired on his back from lying there for so long.<p>

"Are you alright?" He asked the girl who was lying under him.

"I can't feel my leg." She said trying to push herself up.

He looked over at her legs and started unburying them.

"Which leg?"

"The left."

Ryo examined her leg, but didn't find anything wrong with it.

"The rubble must have caused it to go numb. I'll carry you if you'd like." He offered.

She managed to get herself off the ground. "Yeah, I'll never hear the end of it from Kazu. I'll manage."

Ryo had to laugh. She sure was a stubborn one.

"Well at least let me help you walk." He said also being stubborn.

"I guess I can let you do that." She gave him her hand to help her up. "What about your cut?" She asked referring to the wound he received earlier.

"I'm fine. See no blood." He smiled.

Rika narrowed her eyes. "Men…"

She knew there was no blood. He couldn't bleed if he wanted to. But she didn't like the fact that he was playing down his pain. She knew that he was probably really hurt, but he didn't want to admit it. And, for whatever reason, he didn't want to worry her.

"Um…" She paused gaining his attention. His eyes intently looking at her. "Why didn't you take advantage of the my situation when we were alone in here?"

"Did you want me to?" He asked, obviously not oblivious to what she meant.

Rika shook her head. "I appreciate that you didn't, but that would have been your chance."

Ryo smiled. "I told you I have no interest in such things. The less attachments I have the better."

"What are you so afraid of?" Rika asked.

He turned his head away. "Nothing."

He was, of course, lying to her. But he didn't want her to know the truth. He wasn't one of those guys afraid of commitment or of getting hurt, but what anyone could have wanted from him he would be unable to give.

They started heading down the hall. Rika was still too stubborn to let him carry her, so he acted as her crutch as they slowly made their way.

"We should make our way down to the lab." Ryo said still trying to hide the fact that he was in pain.

"We should get out of this building."

He shook his head. "No, I'm sure the lab will be a safer place."

The ground started to rumble again as they both looked around to see if the could find someplace safe to go if another earthquake started.

"We really can't do anything about the dimensions merging?" Rika asked as they tried to make their way further down the hall.

"If I hadn't come to this world none of this would be happening." He hung his head.

She sighed. "True, but I'd probably be dead by now and the D-Reaper would have taken over the world."

He looked up at her.

"The thing is you've helped us out a lot. You're reckless and hard headed, but you know what you're doing." She hated complimenting him.

Ryo smiled. "I haven't been completely honest with you."

"No, shit!"

He laughed. "No, I mean why I left."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter." Rika said, she was starting to get feeling back in her leg and she really wished that it had just stayed numb.

Ryo shook his head. "There were multiple reasons as to why I left. Most of them were excuses, but…I really left because I was afraid of what would happen between us if I stayed."

"If you didn't want to be with me you should have just said it." She avoided eye contact with him.

"I did want to be with you!" He reassured her. "I just…"

"Just stop." Rika said. "I don't care. It was a long time ago."

He just looked at her, but decided maybe that she just really didn't want to know the truth. They kept walking.

"I still think we should head outside." She spoke after a bit of silence.

"No, we'll be safer in the lab."

"Look Akiyama, just because you don't have family here doesn't mean that the rest of us don't. I want to make sure my mom and my grandma are ok." Her cell phone smashed by the debris.

The ground kept rumbling as the building shook slightly. Ryo looked out the window and saw pieces of other buildings breaking off, falling to the ground. Everything looked like chaos, as if a full-scale war was fought there.

"Your shirt is torn." Rika said staring at his back.

"I'm fine."

"Stop being so stubborn and let me see what happened."

"I'm fine!" He yelled.

She moved away from him. "Stop being ridiculous. You're fucking hurt!"

"I said I'm fine, Rika!"

She slapped him across the face. "Stop thinking you can do everything on your own. You can't, alright? I get it, you've been on your own for so long that you think can you can do anything. Face reality. You might be just data, but this isn't the digital world."

He relaxed. "Do whatever."

Rika moved to his back, now capable of walking on her leg. She moved his shirt up and noticed a huge gash along his back.

"Take your shirt off." She ordered.

"What?" He asked turning his head towards her.

"Just do it!" She yelled.

He pulled his shirt off and balled it up in his hands. She touched the wound following it across his back.

"Does it hurt?"

"Only when you touch it." He lied, wincing from the pain. It constantly hurt him, but he didn't want her to know that. Though, she already did.

"This wound is pretty serious. It won't heal on its own. You're going to need stitches."

"I'll be fine." He reassured.

"It's prone to infection." She warned.

"I'm data. Can data even get infections?"

"Does it matter? You need medical attention."

"Yes, mom!" He chuckled.

She placed her hands on her hips. "Don't make me hurt you again."

"When have you stopped?" He asked. "Seriously, stop touching it that hurts!"

"You need medical attention!" She repeated.

"Ok, ok! Just stop!" He yelled in pain.

She took her hands off his back and backed away from him. He sighed when she stopped touching him. He un-balled his shirt before putting it back on.

"It'd look a lot worse if there was blood." She spoke. "It's weird, you not being able to bleed."

He turned to her. "In due time. They said I'm turning back just slowly. It's like last time when we came back from the digital world. You all converted back almost instantly, but the entire time we fought the D-Reaper I was still mostly data."

"I didn't know."

"I didn't tell anyone." He looked back out the window. "I converted back a day later."

"Is there anything that I do know about you, because it seems the longer I talk to you the less I realize I know!"

"You knew what I wanted you to know." He sighed. "Well, we should get going."

"I'm not going to the lab." She crossed her arms.

"Yeah, I know." He scratched his head. "Take Renamon and don't get yourself killed."

"Go get medical treatment."

"Got it!" He nodded.

* * *

><p>Ryo walked into the lab and approached the other Tamers. He wondered if letting Rika go find her family was the right thing to do. But who was he to stop her? She didn't consider him a friend. In fact, he was pretty sure she cared more for Kazu than she did for him. But now he had to face the other Tamers and tell them what he did. They would know whether it was a good decision or not.<p>

"Where's Rika?" Jeri shouted, running over to the blue-eyed brunette.

"She went to find her family." Ryo said scratching his head.

"You did what?" Henry asked turning to Ryo. "Are you crazy she'll die out there? Why didn't you go with her?"

"She took Renamon. She'll be fine." Ryo tried to reassure.

"Man, what took you so long you've been gone for like two hours!" Kazu whined.

Ryo turned to him. "Don't worry about it, but…um…I need some medical attention." He hated that he was going to have to go see someone for his "cut." That's what he referred to it as. He really didn't see it as anything to worry about. Rika seemed really worried about it though, and if she was worried about it then he figured he should be worried about it. He couldn't see it at all, but he did know that it hurt like a bitch.

Yamaki had Riley come over to look at him and Tally brought the first aid kit. Ryo knew that they weren't going to be able to patch him up with just that. The Monster Makers didn't seem to be anywhere around. He figured they might be able to do something for him.

"I just want to let you know that it probably looks weird. I'm data don't forget." He told them as they sat him on the floor.

"Yeah, yeah." Riley laughed. "At least you're being a man and taking initiative. Mitsuo could learn a thing or two from you."

"Thank Rika. She poked me until I nearly cried from pain." He said as he took off his shirt, again.

Riley took out some cream and looked at the wound. She then found some cotton balls and placed the cream on them.

"This is going to hurt a lot." She smiled before turning her attention to Tally. "Can you hold him still?"

"That bad, huh?" Ryo asked, trying to look at the brunette.

"It's a pretty big gash you got here." She said as she started to apply the cream. He winced.

"Just don't move now." Tally reminded.

"Yeah, I got it." He responded. "Riley, where is Sen?"

"He's with Daisy." She said focused on getting the antibiotic all over the gash.

"You're not worried?"

Tally looked over at Riley who sighed. "I'm trying not to be. I'm sure that Daisy will make sure he's alright."

Ryo turned his head forward. He guessed that's all she really could do was hope. Riley needed to do something to make sure that she was distracted from worrying. Ryo wondered how Rika was doing. He was sure that she was alright. After all it was Rika that he was worried about. He still couldn't help but think that letting her go on her own, even with Renamon, was a bad idea. And what is Rika were to arrived home and her family dead? He shook his head. He had to stop worrying about her.

"Are you alright?" Tally asked.

He winced. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ryo looked up as he saw Takato and Henry walk over to him with their partners.

"We're going to find Rika." Henry announced avoiding eye contact with the brunette.

Ryo nodded his head. "I'll come too." He went to get up when both women held him down.

"Not before we stitch you up!" Riley declared holding Ryo down by his left arm.

"With what?" He asked.

Riley held up a needle and thread. Ryo sighed.

* * *

><p>Henry, Takato, Guilmon, Terriermon and Ryo all walked throughout West Shinjuku on their way to find Rika. Henry and Takato were discussing something while Terriermon was lazily riding on top of Guilmon's head. Ryo walked a bit behind them irritated by the immense pain coming from the gash. Putting antibiotics on it and stitching him up was probably the right thing to do, but it was also the most painful thing he could think of. The gash hurt enough on its own, but Riley had to go and make it so much worse by stabbing a needle into him so many times that he lost count.<p>

Ryo looked at the other members of the small group he was in and wondered why they even brought him along. They had their partners and could actually do something if the situation called for it, but what could he do? Takato pointed down the alley where Rika lived and they all started heading in that direction.

He was sure that they were all worried about their families, but it seemed like they thought that Rika was more important. Whether she was or not was still left to be determined, but Ryo did wonder why they weren't looking for them.

When they got to the entrance of Rika's house the door was kicked in. They all assumed that it was probably stuck and Rika had no choice but to break in. When they got on her property they saw that Rika had started a pile of things that she found in the debris.

The redhead had tied her hair back and was sifting through rubble. Renamon was with her trying to push a huge piece of her house off of something. As the men got closer they saw a blond woman lying there amongst the debris and ran over.

"Good you guys are here." Rika sounded relieved. "You can help me get this off of my mom?"

The three guys started pushing on the debris and eventually moved it off of Rumiko. Rika knelt down next to her.

"Mom, hang in there." Rika said.

"I'll be alright, Rika. Where's your grandma?" Rumiko asked trying to look around.

"I haven't looked for her yet. I saw you and I tried to get you out." Rika grabbed her mother's hand.

Rumiko smiled at her daughter. Henry got behind Rumiko and tried to lift her up as Takato and Ryo brushed more debris and dust off of her. They then carried her over to the wall that surrounded the property.

"Thanks…" She managed to say. Her face and body completely cut up.

Rika went right to work sifting through more rubble looking specifically for her grandma. The others went over to help as well.

"We'll find her, Rika." Renamon reassured.

Rika wiped a tear from her eye. She didn't want the others to see her like this. She then turned back to her mother.

"Where was grandma last?" Hoping that this would help her figure out where her grandma was.

Rumiko shook her head. She had no idea.

"I found her!" Takato yelled as he chucked a huge piece of the house revealing Seiko's head. She wasn't moving so Takato pressed his fingers to her neck. The others ran over.

"Grandma!" Rika shouted kneeling down and scattering more pieces.

"Rika stop!" Takato shouted. "She's…"

"No!" Rika screamed still trying to unbury the woman. "Grandma!"

Henry got there next and grabbed her trying to stop her. Ryo got there as Rika calmed down and sobbed. Henry helped her to her feet. She then turned to Ryo.

"This is all your fucking fault!" She screamed as loud as she could. "If you never came to this world my grandma wouldn't be dead!"

"Rika…I'm so sorry…"

"Shut up!" She continued screaming. "I hate you!" Tears streaming down her face. "I fucking hate you!"

"Stop it, Rika." Henry said as he embraced the girl.

"I hate you!" She cried. "I never want to see your face again!"

Henry took Rika over to her mother and Takato turned to Ryo.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean that." He said trying to think positively.

"I'm just going to leave." Ryo said still wondering why they brought him there in the first place. He figured it wasn't so that Rika would yell at him. He decided that it was best to leave her. If she didn't want to see him then he was going to make sure that she didn't have to.

"We'll get them to Hypnos safely." Takato reassured.

"Yeah…" Ryo turned and headed off the property.

* * *

><p>"I have something that you need to see." Yamaki said as he walked over to Ryo who had just entered the lab.<p>

Not really in the mood, but not knowing what else to do, Ryo nodded and followed the blond. Yamaki brought Ryo over to a computer and told him to sit on the leather swivel chair. So Ryo did and turned himself towards the screen. He stared at it for a bit before someone patched a feed over. A dark figure appeared on the screen.

"It's been a long time, Ryo."

* * *

><p><strong>The biggest decision for me this chapter was am I going to kill someone off? And if I am who will it be? Generally, I kill off Rumiko, because I don't really like her (I don't know why), but I decided not to kill her off. No, we're not done with her yet. Last chapter was whether or not I was going to have Ryo and Rika kiss, but I decided against it. No, they're not ready for each other yet. As a note for the next chapter it is one giant fight between almost everyone. It's the longest chapter I've written so far and it's filled with anger. :D (it's still in the editing process)<strong>

**Oh BTW in case you're wondering what Ryo's cut looks like here's a link: **http:/ www. fantasycostume. com /images/ accessories/ backlash. jpg (without spaces) **It's completely fake in this picture, so it looks like that with no blood and across his entire back.**

**Now I'll answer questions :D BTW I love you guys, you keep me on my toes and make me redo research, because I'm constantly second guessing myself.**

**Am I going to flashback to their kiss? **I was thinking about it, but that would require me to write up a scene for it (I'm lazy). In the next chapter we go back to it and find out, a little bit, why it happened. I guess what I am trying to say is it's not how or even why it happened, but what resulted from it happening. Though, I may write the scene for it. I know the overall story, but I don't have the little details worked out, yet, so you never know what can happen.

**Could you please explain how Ryo is suppose to be the Monster Makers' age?** Well I kind of made a mistake and started re-reading what happened in the games. Ryo, in my story, doesn't actually explain why he isn't old. Yamaki assumes that Ryo's body was used to a faster time, but actually that's not true at all. Since I noticed my mistake and I actually didn't make Ryo say how he was at the beginning of the digital world, but not the same age as the M.M. I'll explain it at some point in this story. So, for now, assume that Yamaki was making an assumption. Ryo still has, yet, to clarify his story. (Thank you by the way I had doubts while writing it, but your question made me double check)

**The M.M. made all the Digital Worlds?** Nope, they actually didn't create any of them. The M.M. only created the very first Digimon (only Tamers Universe). Antanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)-the first computer ever-created the digital world. ENIAC (the first patented computer) built on the levels that ABC had laid down. Together, these two computers created the Digital Worlds. In the Tamers' Universe, Digimon are not native to the Digital World, but when the M.M. program was shut down, due to lack of funding, the Digimon made the Digital World their home. ENIAC is also the computer that chose Monodramon to be Ryo's partner (because Ryo didn't have a partner for any of the games except for the last one which is due to the fact that Millenniummon was Ryo's true partner).

**Well, that's it for me today. I look forward to your reviews and questions!**

**-Aninika**


	7. Chapter 6

**_EDIT: Chapter has been fixed of some grammar, punctuation or spelling errors._**

**This chapter is so long :/ (Compared to the others). This is pretty anger filled, but it's not as much as I thought it was. Of course, I've also re-read it like 10 times now, so everything seems toned down to me. Ahlalala anyway, the next chapter is already written and the chapter after that is well on its way. I might actually be able to finish for my deadline! :D We'll see though. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 6::.~<p>

"**I**t's been a long time, Ryo." The figure said.

_I recognize that voice._

"Izzy!" Ryo smiled.

Twenty one-year-old Izumi, Izzy turned on the light, so Ryo could see him. "I was trying to do the whole ominous thing. Did it work?"

Ryo laughed. "Your voice gave you away."

He snapped his fingers and laughed. "It worked on Tai the other day."

"I wouldn't consider Tai one of the smartest people I've ever met." Ryo couldn't believe who he was talking to. It had been years since he had last seen any of the Digidestined.

"Well, I'd really love to catch up sometime, but right now we have a dire issue on our hands." Izzy sounded worried. "Parts of our world started disappearing today."

"Your world merging with this one." Ryo said.

"So Willis told me. Man, that kid is smart." Izzy said typing away at something. "If this keeps up I'll be seeing you sometime soon. So far none of the Digidestined here have started to disappear, but select parts of the United States and even the Pyramids are completely gone!"

"Did Willis say anything about how to stop all this?" Ryo asked, if anyone knew it would be him.

"Will has no idea. I've even talked with Gennai and he doesn't know what's going on. And the sky has started to split open." Izzy was panicking. "You seem like you know something."

_It wasn't Izzy or Willis that Yamaki was getting his information from. Who was it?_

"I have a feeling it has to do with Millenniummon. He's the only one that would want the worlds together as one. It'd be easier to take them out."

"I thought you destroyed Millenniummon once and for all?" Izzy asked.

Ryo shook his head. "You guys probably also thought I was dead all these years. So, either you're talking to me in Heaven or I'm very much alive."

"We don't have the power to take him out." Izzy brought up.

"We'll make sure he doesn't come back. We have to."

"Ryo, we found Cyberdramon." Yamaki called standing next to Riley who had just told him.

"I've got to go Izzy. Get in touch with me soon. Relay what I told you to Gennai." Ryo got up and wandered over to Yamaki.

"It took us a while to find him, but we did it. Now we just need to figure out how to get him back." Yamaki said as he and Ryo walked over to the screen.

"What took you so long to find him?"

"He wasn't where you said he was. In fact, he's no where near where he should be."

Ryo looked at the screen and saw that Cyberdramon was in Zhuqiaomon's, sovereign god of the South, area.

"He won't be too happy to see Cyberdramon." Ryo sighed.

"Man, that guy wouldn't be happy unless someone delivered him a platter of dead humans." Kazu said the harsh truth.

"That's not true!" Lopmon argued.

"When have you ever seen him happy?" Kazu asked.

"I guess you're right." She said defeated.

"Can you get him here?" Ryo asked Yamaki.

"We're working on that right now. Dolphin and Curly managed to find their way here and have already started on figuring something out."

Thirteen-year-old Suzie knelt beside Lopmon and patted her on the head.

"Zhuqiaomon kindly let you remain partners with me." Suzie smiled. "I think that was something nice he did."

"Dude, one nice thing doesn't count for a tyranny of evil. He's like Rika." Kazu stated bending over.

"I'm like Zhuqiaomon?" Rika hissed walking over to Kazu.

"You can't just show up like that you have to announce when you're here so I don't say something stupid like that!" Kazu demanded.

"Everything that comes out of your mouth is retarded!" Rika yelled. "And for the record I am nothing like Zhuqiaomon!"

"Whoa, Rika's really angry!" Calumon stated wobbling over to Lopmon.

"I guess she really is." Lopmon put her paw to her mouth.

"When is she not angry?" Suzie asked. Over the years Suzie grew to detest Rika. Rika was, and still is, horrible with kids, so she avoided Suzie as much as possible growing up. This left Suzie with a feeling of resentment towards her. And not to mention that a majority of the time that Suzie did see Rika she was always yelling or hurting someone.

"Be nice!" Henry ordered coming up behind his sister.

"Whoa, who shoved a dildo up your ass?" Kazu remarked shrugging it off.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!" Rika screamed before planting her foot firmly in his balls. Kazu dropped to the floor.

Takato knelt beside Kazu. "You know, Kazu, sometimes I wonder if you even think before you speak."

Kazu flipped Takato off.

"Do you want to say something wise too?" Rika barked at Ryo.

He just stood there and didn't say anything. It wasn't that he was afraid of what she was going to do to him it was that she didn't want to deal with him and he, frankly, didn't want to deal with her.

Ryo walked over to Dolphin and Curly.

"Do you think you could send me to the digital world?"

Dolphin turned around. "That would be easier than trying to get Cyberdramon out. We can work on a way to get you out after. But why do you want to go there? Your body will turn completely back into data."

"I want to talk with the Sovereign." He said.

"No, we need you to stay here. Now that the border between the digital world and here is almost non existent Digimon can pass through easily." Yamaki said walking over to them.

"There's not much I can do about that anyway. Please, the Sovereign might be able to help. They know all about Millenniummon." Ryo begged.

"He's not going alone!" Takato said. "I'm going with you."

Ryo looked at Takato and could see how serious he was about this.

"Then I'm going too." Henry added.

"I'm not going to let them have all the fun!" Impmon stated walking over.

They all turned to Rika.

"I suppose you're not giving me a choice are you?"

"It'd be easier if you came." Henry suggested.

Rika sighed. She had so much going on that it really was the last thing she wanted to do. Couldn't they understand that she was pissed and upset? Her grandma did just die after all. Rika nodded her head. She didn't want to go, but she felt like they really weren't giving her much of a choice.

"We should go as well, shouldn't we?" Kenta asked walking over to the group.

"No!" Yamaki ordered. "I don't want any humans there that can't be merged with Digimon."

"That's not fair!" Suzie yelled.

"Listen to him, Suzie!" Janyu ordered limping into the room.

"Dad!" Henry was happy to see that he was ok.

"You'd better get going." He said.

"Riley found a weak point in Shinjuku Park where you'll be able to pass into the digital world. You'll need to head towards the Southern Gate from there. That's where Cyberdramon is." Yamaki told them. "I want you all to go into your mega forms as soon as you get there." He then looked a Ryo. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be extra careful, but do it anyway."

Ryo nodded his head.

With Yamaki's warning in mind Ryo and the others took off for Shinjuku Park with the same device they were given last time to keep in contact. When they got there the Tamers looked around for the weak spot that Yamaki had mentioned.

"Look, I should have said that you didn't have to come if you didn't want to." Henry said to Rika in a sort of apologetic way. "I know you're going through a lot right now."

"I came didn't I?" She asked angered. "Let's just get to the Sovereign, get the information we need, and then get the hell out of there."

"I can agree to that." Henry smiled.

"Are you going to come back with us?" Takato asked Ryo.

Ryo looked at Takato and sighed. "I was really hoping to go alone."

"I had a feeling and that's why I offered to come." He said. "Ryo, you're not a Digimon. And whether you're from this world or not has nothing to do with the fact that you belong here. You're not a human reject. I guess what I'm saying is you're just a valuable to us as anyone else on this team. Don't think of yourself as an outcast."

It was comforting to hear that from someone and he really appreciated it. "Thanks."

"Hey, I found something!" Guilmon said poking his claw at what seemed to be nothing.

The others ran over to him and noticed that his claw was disappearing when he poked whatever it was that he was poking.

"Ready?" Ryo asked looking particularly at Rika.

She turned away from him and without a moment of hesitation she made her way into the invisible portal disappearing from their sight. Henry turned to the others and quickly followed the redhead. Terriermon jumped in after him with Renamon and Impmon following. Guilmon chased after them and Takato followed his partner. Ryo was the last to head in.

The flux between the two worlds was still unnerving for the Tamers and their partners. But, eventually, one of them pointed in the direction that they thought was down and they all went plummeting into the most basic level of their digital world.

"Zhuquiaomon's castle is on the six level of the digital world and to the south of here." Ryo mentioned looking at the others as they crawled out of their craters.

"I will never get use to that!" Terriermon said struggling to get out.

"We'd better digivolve." Takato said, D-arc firmly in hand. He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out his blue card.

Henry and Rika did the same.

"Digimodify! Biomerge Activate!" The three of them engulfed in light respective to their D-arc colors. Their partners as well.

"Guilmon biomerge to Gallantmon!"

"Terriermon biomerge to MegaGargomon!"

"Renamon biomerge to Sakuyamon!"

"Impmon warp digivolve to Beelzemon!"

Ryo had to shield his eyes from the bright light and when he removed his hand four figures stood before him.

"Heh, I almost forgot what it was like to command this much power!" Beelzemon laughed while looking at his hands.

"Yeah, well just don't go all crazy this time!" Terriermon shouted.

"If I do I'll make sure to take you out first you little runt." Beelzemon threatened.

"I'm like 50 times larger than you!" Terriermon shouted back.

"Would you two stop?" Henry yelled.

"Guess he can't take a joke." Beelzemon groaned.

"He's a killjoy!" Terriermon laughed. "You get use to it."

Sakuyamon floated into the air. "As much fun as this is we're here on a mission. I suggest you two mode change unless you want to walk." Referring to Beelzemon and Gallantmon who, in their current modes, had no wings.

MegaGargomon knelt down and placed his hand on the ground for Ryo to get on.

"Gallantmon mode change to Gallantmon Crimson Mode."

"Beelzemon mode change to Beelzemon Blast Mode."

They all took to the sky with Ryo hanging onto one of the wings extruding from MegaGargomon's head.

"You wanna race fox face?" Beelzemon asked flying next to Sakuyamon.

"Not particularly." Renamon's voice said.

"C'mon, scared I'll beat ya?" He snickered.

"I have no interest in racing." Renamon seemed irritated by him.

"Is he trying to flirt with her?" Ryo asked.

"If he is that's some of the worst flirting I've ever heard." Henry chuckled.

"Jealous?" Terriermon asked, hoping that it was true.

"Not even a little bit." Ryo replied.

"Hey Ryo, you'd better hold onto something!" Henry laughed as MegaGargomon kicked it into high gear and took off flying.

They zoomed passed Beelzemon who became infuriated.

"Oh no they didn't! I will not lose to some 10 ton metal rabbit!" Beelzemon clenched his fist and took off after the green rabbit.

Gallantmon flew next to Sakuyamon and laughed.

"Should we go get them?" He asked.

Rika crossed her arms inside Sakuyamon's digicore. "Do what you want. We're not here to play games!"

Takato frowned and took off after the others.

"Do you think it's best to stay so far behind them?" Renamon inquired.

Rika groaned is disgust. "I suppose we'd better catch up." Sakuyamon took off after her male partners.

* * *

><p>They landed on the six layer of the Digital world right in front of the path that led to Zhuqiaomon's castle.<p>

"I can honestly say that I thought I would never have to see this place again." Gallantmon stated as his feet touched the ground.

MegaGargomon placed Ryo on the ground. Clenching his D-arc he looked around for his partner.

"Well hello big boy." Sakuyamon teased standing in front of Cyberdramon.

He growled before lunging after the Shaman Digimon. Sakuyamon floated right over him and landed without a sound on the ground behind him.

"Oh too slow." She sounded sad, but was still teasing him.

"Is he ever not angry?" Beelzemon asked.

"Sometimes I wonder that about you!" Terriermon laughed.

"Why I outta!" The devil Digimon growled.

"Stop teasing him, Rika!" Ryo yelled to her.

"Desolation Claw!" Cyberdramon launched his attack.

Sakuyamon craftily avoided it. "Well aren't you a feisty one!" She shouted as she kicked him in the face knocking him to the ground.

Cyberdramon quickly got himself back up and lunged, again, at Sakuyamon this time getting a hold of her and knocking her to the ground. He stood over her and prepared to start ripping her to shreds when Ryo's data whip snagged his arm.

"Stop it!" He ordered.

Cyberdramon fought for control of his arm. Sakuyamon used this as an opportunity to get out from under him. She kicked him again.

"Sakuyamon stop it! You're not helping!" Ryo yelled at her.

MegaGargomon went over and grabbed onto the dragon Digimon as if he were an angry lizard.

"Calm down! We're not going to hurt you." He said, but Cyberdramon wouldn't stop struggling.

"Ryo do something!" Henry called.

Ryo took his whip and struck Cyberdramon a few times with it. The Digimon became infuriated, but after a few more times of getting hit, he relaxed. MegaGargomon let Cyberdramon go as Ryo walked over to his partner and patted him on the metal plate.

"We're here on a mission. Are you up for it?" He asked.

"No more crevices." Cyberdramon growled.

Ryo smiled in his usual way. "No more crevices." He pulled out his blue card and swiped it in his D-arc.

"Digimodify! Biomerge Activate!"

"Cyberdramon biomerge to Justimon!"

He broke free from the light of digivolution and wandered right over to Sakuyamon.

"What the fuck was that about?" Ryo's voice yelled making sure to get directly in her face. "Do you realize that Cyberdramon can take out a mega on his own? Don't mess with him."

Sakuyamon pushed him out of her face. "Your partner is the reason why we're in this situation to begin with. We should get rid of him before he turns into ZeedMillenniummon!"

"That's your genius plan?" Ryo yelled. "I'll die too!"

"What's up with them?" Beelzemon asked.

"Oh, they've just been bickering since he got back." Terriermon said casually.

"Kind of like you two." Henry rolled his eyes.

"Guys cut it out!" Gallantmon yelled.

"You'd be more useful dead!" Rika growled.

"If you weren't a girl I'd beat the living shit out of you!" Ryo threatened. He was sick of her at this point.

"Try me!" She challenged splitting back into two beings.

"I won't fight you!" Ryo told her.

She went to punch him but he caught her fist.

"I am a mega level Digimon. You're not going to hurt me."

"Then face me as a man!" She demanded.

Renamon went to pound him in the face, but he quickly moved out of the way. Renamon went to attack again, but Cyberdramon forced him and Ryo to return to their original forms and he went after her. Rika came after Ryo. He retaliated by pushing her to the ground holding down her arms and locking her legs with his.

"Cyberdramon will kill Renamon. Is that what you want?" Ryo asked making sure that she couldn't get free.

"Should we stop them?" Takato asked worried about what would happen.

Henry shook his head. "Let them fight. If Cyberdramon starts killing Renamon we'll stop them, but those two need to get this out of their system."

Rika struggled to move, but Ryo was too strong for her.

"Get off of me!" She screamed.

"No!" He yelled back. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You!" She spat in his face.

"So you keep telling me. What's really wrong?" He asked trying to calm himself down. If he was on edge Rika was only going to retaliate.

She just groaned under him struggling to get free.

"I didn't kill your grandma, Rika." He said. "I know you love blaming me for when things go wrong. I may have caused the events that led to her death, but I didn't do it. Stop blaming me."

"Get off of me!" She screamed again.

"Not until you tell me what's really wrong!" He raised his voice.

"Alright, you two need to stop!" Beelzemon demanded picking Renamon up by the neck and shoving his gun in Cyberdramon's mouth. Beelzemon turned his attention to Cyberdramon. "If you try anything funny I will pull this trigger and I promise you it'll hurt."

"Get off!" Rika screamed struggling with all her might. Tears rolled down her face.

"I told you no!" He put more force on her.

She stopped struggling realizing that it was useless. He wasn't going to let her go until she told him what he wanted.

Tears streamed from her eyes. "My grandma is dead!" She screamed. "She's dead…"

He didn't say anything he just held her down. She sobbed there for a bit, and he really felt like letting her go, but she wasn't telling him what was wrong.

"You really want to know why I'm so mad at you?" Rika asked in between trying to breathe from crying so much.

"Yes…" He whispered. He wanted their fighting to come to an end.

"Either you wipe my tears or let me wipe them." She demanded.

He let off one of her arms so she could wipe her face. He stayed over her patiently waiting for her to answer.

She took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eye. "You left."

"I already knew that! You're still angry with me over that?" He asked.

She shook her head. "You really don't get it!"

He just looked at her, her eyes never leaving his.

"I loved you, Ryo. I loved you a lot. That night you told me that you were going to try and return to school. You said you weren't going to go back to the digital world anymore and we kissed. The next day you were gone. You up and fucking left. I didn't hear from you for six fucking years and then you show up and act like nothing happened!" Rika laughed, though she didn't find any of it funny. "Don't tell me you're sorry, because I don't want to hear it. You broke my heart and I tried for six fucking years to forget you. So excuse me if I don't want anything to do with you!"

He let her go. "You told me that you didn't want me to die."

"Looks like you're not the only one who can't keep what they said." She sat up rubbing her arms where he was holding her down.

Henry looked over at Takato who looked back at him. Both were stunned. Beelzemon dropped Renamon and withdrew his gun from Cyberdramon's mouth. All of them were looking at Ryo and Rika.

"I don't know what to say…" Ryo spoke.

Rika stood up. "I don't care what you have to say anyway."

"Humans!" Zhuqiaomon roared as he flew over to them. "What are you two doing here?" Directing his attention to Ryo.

"We have an issue." Ryo said still trying to absorb what Rika had said to him.

"Yes, we do. You two are suppose to be in Baihumon's territory. What are you doing here?" The phoenix god growled.

"It's Millenniummon. We need to talk." Ryo's look turned serious.

Zhuqiaomon roared as loud as he could before snapping his attention to Cyberdramon. "You return to your rookie form, now!"

Cyberdramon growled at this order before turning into Monodramon.

"Come in the castle." He ordered. "I've already called for the others."

They walked over to the pathway as Zhuqiaomon flew ahead of them and into his domain. A bubble incased them all as they were all returned to their normal forms. Ryo and Rika avoided looking at each other and the others didn't speak a word for a long while. They were too afraid to say the wrong thing.

"If we're going to be a team we need to solve these issues now." Henry stated as they neared the entrance of the castle.

"Blame him." Rika huffed.

Ryo turned his attention to her. "When Millenniummon comes back I'll be sure to ask him to take me back in time and I'll try to do that situation right." Sarcasm was evident.

"You don't have to be a smartass!" Rika yelled.

"I didn't expect that to happen! I was 14 and I panicked. I didn't know what else to do!" He yelled back.

"You're still as immature!" Rika barked.

"I think I'd rather talk to a wall. I really do! At least it wouldn't bitch about something that happened six years ago!"

"Ok…I take back what I said. You two don't talk to each other, ever!" Henry stated rubbing his temples.

"Oh so now I'm bitching?" Rika asked, ignoring Henry completely.

"Yes, you're bitching. You've been bitching this entire time!" Ryo yelled.

"Well sorry that I have feelings!" She crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"How was I supposed to know that you were in love with me?" Ryo asked. "It's not like there were signs everywhere telling me! You were as hard to understand then as you are now. Except I think you're far worse now. At least you weren't always yelling at me!"

"I made it as obvious as I could!" Rika lashed out.

"Well I obviously didn't pick up on it!" He wasn't even angry anymore now he was just frustrated.

"You were the stupidest teenager ever in that case!" She retorted.

"I wasn't stupid. A bit oblivious to certain things, but not stupid!" He wanted to pull his hair out.

"If they ever get together they are going to have the greatest make up sex ever." Takato whispered to Henry. Or at least he thought he did, but when he looked over at Ryo and Rika they were both glaring at him.

"Smooth." Henry replied. Takato blushed.

"I give up!" Ryo groaned. "You're fucking impossible."

"That's not my problem."

Ryo grumbled. "What can I do to get you to forgive me?"

"Your Millenniummon idea doesn't sound too bad at this point." She was clearly being sarcastic.

Ryo looked at Takato and Henry hoping that they could help him, but they seemed just as clueless. The Digimon didn't even want to get involved at this point.

"I'll do anything, Rika." He pleaded with her.

"Go jump off a bridge." Was her response.

"Will that fix this?" He asked.

"No, but it'll amuse me for a bit." She responded smiling at the thought.

"Right." He took a deep breath. "I'm going with the whole not talking to each other plan." He told Henry.

They landed at their destination and headed inside.

"Try not to kill each other in front on the Sovereign. As much enjoyment that they would get out of it, we're not here for entertainment value." Henry warned and walked into Zhuqiaomon's chambers.

"What took you so long?" He asked, his voice booming.

"Install a faster bubble and maybe we'd get here quicker." Terriermon said, he could careless.

"I should have killed you." Zhuqiaomon glared.

"So what's the problem spiky haired boy?" One of Ebonwumon's heads asked. "Oh it looks like cranky beast is littler now." The other head said.

"The Digidestined universe and this one are merging together." Ryo spoke.

"We'd notice something like that!" Zhuqiaomon laughed. "Do you really think that us four Sovereign would be oblivious to such a thing?"

Ryo shook his head. "I'm sure the reason why you haven't noticed anything is because of the fact the two digital worlds are already conjoined."

"That could be true." Azulongmon, sovereign god of the East, said looking at the others. "But if what you say is true what do you think it means?"

"Are we really going to listen to what a human has to say?" Zhuqiaomon asked appalled at the thought.

"Ryo has helped us many times before. I trust him." Baihumon said.

"Have you been so blind that you have not noticed that he has been absent from your area for a while now?" Zhuqiaomon growled.

"I've noticed." Baihumon stated, baring his fangs. "I'm not as blind as you'd like to think."

"Hey you two cranky pants shut up and let the boy talk!" Ebonwumon's Irish head demanded. "I'm sure he'll explain the reason behind his absence after." The Scottish one said.

Ryo bowed his head to Ebonwumon, sovereign god of the North. The turtle sovereign was the oldest and wisest of them all, but also the kindest.

"We believe that this was all part of Millenniummon's plan." Ryo said to them.

The four Sovereigns turned their heads to the purple dragon who hid behind Ryo's leg.

"We should kill him." Zhuqiaomon said to the others.

"Have you forgotten, Zhuqiaomon? That boy's life force is directly linked with Millenniummon. If we kill him then the boy dies too." The dragon god's voice boomed.

"That boy's life for all of ours, that seems fair." Zhuqiaomon squawked. "Or have you forgotten what kind of power Millenniummon commands?"

"Be assured that I have not!" Azulongmon yelled. "What is it that you expect from us? If you want us to kill Monodramon we can very well do that."

"Is there no other way to take out Millenniummon without killing him or Ryo?' Takato asked, fearing for his friend's life.

"You do not know this beast. He's too powerful to be kept alive." Zhuqiaomon growled. "Which is why I don't understand why we've let him live in that body!"

"Ryo, the only way to stop whatever Millenniummon has planned is to kill him." Azulongmon spoke. "The end result will be your death."

"I'm not ready for that. I'd rather that be the last option." Ryo said.

"It is the only option!" Baihumon growled.

"Millenniummon hasn't even started showing signs that he's gaining control." Ryo argued.

"I will gladly kill you when that time comes." Zhuqiaomon laughed.

"What has Gennai said about this situation?" Azulongmon asked.

"He's been informed. I have yet to hear back from him." Ryo responded.

"Wait to speak with him then. Get back to us when Gennai has determined what to do." Azulongmon said.

Ryo wasn't happy with this response.

"Ryo, just know that if it comes down to it we'd rather have you dead then have to deal with Millenniummon again." Azulongmon assured him.

"You never even dealt with Millenniummon!" Ryo yelled. "You sent me to do your dirty work. You used me just like they did! I am the only one here with the strength to take him out?"

"Don't you dare talk to us like that!" Zhuqiaomon roared.

"I've been fighting your battles since I first stepped foot in the digital world. Now I ask that you help me for once, and what do I get? A death threat!" Ryo had to laugh. "I'm keeping track of the fucking D-Reaper for you! Do you guys actually do anything on your own, or do you expect that I'll always be around to clean up your messes?"

"Speak with Gennai first." Azulongmon repeated.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Ryo lowered his voice and stormed out of the room. The others followed him out.

"Ryo!" Rika yelled.

Ryo turned to her. "I'm not going to deal with your shit. Find someone else to yell at!"

"I wasn't going to yell at you, asshole." Rika folded her arms.

Takato came running out. "What are you doing with the D-Reaper?"

The rest joined them standing outside on a platform. Ryo looked at all of them as they stared back intently.

"It has to do with my mission…"

* * *

><p><strong>OMG we're finally going to find out what his mission is :O. If you read this story while the Preview was still up then you already know his mission anyway, but if you haven't OMG the suspense! Lol. So what was my biggest decision in this chapter? I guess it was whether or not I was going to send them to the digital world. Also, the dialogue between Ryo and Rika. I have to be careful with them, because so much has happened between them that I have to keep reading over their dialogue to make sure I'm not going against something they said in previous chapters. And then Rika has this whole I'm nice to him now I'm not nice to him thing. ARG! She's only nice to him when he's hurt or she's emotionally distraught and it's not his fault. Like she blames him for her grandmother's death, so she's angry at him. She also does care about him, sometimes, so she acts accordingly, you know when he's not (unintentionally) ruining her life.<strong>

**The next chapter is a bit of fun :3**

**Also, since no one had any questions I came up with one that I will answer for you.**

**Why did you kill off Seiko?** (I'm a horrible, horrible person ) Well, it'll be made clearer later on, but my reason behind it was because of how much Rika falls back on her grandma. Rumiko and Rika have always had a rough relationship and Rika found solitude in her grandma and now that she's gone Rika can either try to get along with her mom or seek solitude from someone else :3

**Yeah, I spelt Seiko wrong in the last chapter. Too lazy to fix it. R & R (I still love you guys/girls :D)**

**-Aninika**


	8. Chapter 7

**For some reason I had anonymous reviews disabled, but I turned them back on, so if there is anyone reading my story without an account and wants to review you can now :D Also, thank you to the anonymous reviewer that told me how to spell Riley's name correctly. For some odd reason I didn't catch that. I, also, went through and posted up revised versions of each chapter so far. Things like grammar, punctuation or spelling have been updated (I did this because Riley's name was spelt wrong in a good chunk of the chapters) Also, you guys are going to hate me, but when I revised the chapters I posted the unedited version of Chapter 1 and it was up for a few hours before I realized it (the whole scene with Rika and Kisuke was the explicit version). The chapter is now edited again, so sorry :(**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 7::.~<p>

"**O**h so you haven't been just prancing around the digital world in these last six years." Terriermon said. "That's comforting."

"Terriermon!" Henry growled.

"What? He's been working with the D-Reaper!" The rabbit shouted.

"I have not!" defended Ryo.

"The D-Reaper is dead!" Takato shouted ferociously. "You were there when he was destroyed!"

Takato couldn't forgive himself for what had happened to Jeri during this entire incident. Remembering the D-Reaper was like remembering your worst fear. He couldn't help but lash out at Ryo for bringing that monster back up.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Ryo asked the goggle-headed teen. Takato backed off.

"Perhaps you should explain your mission." Renamon offered.

Ryo looked at them all. "When Monodramon and I came here six years ago the Sovereign asked a favor. In return for keeping my past a secret from you guys and letting me stay here they asked that I keep watch over the D-Reaper." He had them all listening. "When Yamaki launched Operation Doodlebug on the D-Reaper all he managed to do was return it to its most basic form. The D-Reaper is a learning program, it constantly has to adapt to changing programs. All we managed to do is make it weak, but it hasn't forgotten what it has learned. My job is to keep track of it and make sure that it doesn't develop again."

"That thing is still alive?" Takato shouted, enraged. "Why haven't you destroyed it?"

"What's it with you and saving things that can kill us all?" Rika asked.

"If the D-Reaper could be destroyed it would have already been done. We can't destroy it!" Ryo shouted. "Don't go blaming me for everything!"

"So you're saying there's a chance that we're going to have to face both ZeedMillenniummon and the D-Reaper at the same time?" Henry asked. "Anything else you'd like to let us know?"

"Millenniummon is cruel and brutal. He thinks like a serial killer. He won't stop for anything." Ryo mentioned. "And since he controls the powers of space and time he tendency to resurrect fallen evil Digimon."

"Would you also like to throw in a Zombie Apocalypse? This doesn't seem impossible enough yet." Rika stated sarcastically.

"You asked." Ryo responded flatly.

Monodramon tugged on Ryo's shirt gaining the brunette's attention.

"I can take care of this on my own." Ryo told them.

Henry shook his head. "We're a team now, Ryo. This battle isn't only yours. We've saved the world once. Now let's save it again." The others nodded their heads.

For the first time, really, in a long time Ryo actually felt like he was part of a group. Sure Rika didn't want anything to do with him, but he knew she would help.

"Thanks."

Takato took out the tablet that Yamaki had given him to keep in contact, but there were no messages.

"Judging by that look he hasn't sent anything." Rika moved closer to the group. "Come on, Renamon and I know a place where we can stay for at least the night."

* * *

><p>"You should have warned us that it was going to be so windy!" Terriermon shouted holding Guilmon's ears for dear life. "I'm going to fly away!"<p>

"That hurts!" The dinosaur cried.

"Who do you know that lives here?" Ryo shouted gripping onto Cyberdramon who seemed to be unfazed by the wind.

"We're almost there!" Rika yelled to them. Renamon was helping her stand her ground.

"Can't you move any faster, fox face?" Impmon demanded. He was riding on Renamon.

"I can always feed you to the wind." She replied coolly causing him to shut up.

"There is no way anyone can live under these conditions!" Henry shouted trying to push his way forward. Takato was clinging to his arm.

"I'd rather take my chances in that weird castle with Knightmon!" Takato said. Out of the three men he was the shortest, by only a few inches, and the lightest, which was causing him to have a hard time pushing through the wind.

Rika and Renamon made their way over to a wooden round door and motioned for the others to move quickly. Which, of course, was easier said than done. But when they all made it over the wind changed direction and shoved them all into the house. Rika was the first to get up to look around.

"This is definitely the place." She said looking around. Renamon got up and stood next to her.

The boys didn't have such an easy time getting up. Unfortunately for them, Cyberdramon and Guilmon landed on top.

"Who dares enter our house?" Jijimon complained wandering into the room a hand on his back.

"Oh what are you complaining about now?" Babamon sighed, quickly following the elderly male Digimon.

"There are guests in our house! Again!" Jijimon shouted.

"Quit your shouting I'm right here!" Babamon shouted back.

"What do you want to fight about it?" Jijimon growled.

"With pleasure!" Babamon attacked.

"Are they always this pleasant?" Terriermon asked walking over to Renamon and Rika. His ears dragging on the ground.

"Unfortunately, yes." Renamon responded.

"Hey, would you two quit fighting for a second?" Rika yelled causing the elderly Digimon couple to stop.

"Ah!" Jijimon shouted. "It's that angry girl and her mean Digimon!"

"You threw us down the stairs!" Babamon pointed at Renamon.

"I'll do it again!" Renamon stated gracefully.

"We need a place to stay." Rika said.

"You're not going to hurt us again are you?" The elderly female Digimon asked.

"Promise!" Rika smiled walking over to the couple.

"Well in that case feel free to stay!" Jijimon cheered.

"Are they bipolar?" Terriermon asked.

"Terriermon!" Henry scolded.

"What? I was just asking." The rabbit jumped onto Henry's shoulder.

"What did you do to them? If you don't mind me asking." Henry looked to Renamon.

"I just tossed them down the stairs, because they were being stubborn." She replied.

"It was all Kazu and Kenta's fault anyway." Rika added. "That same day we met that loser over there."

"Hey!" Ryo said insulted.

"We have two guest bedrooms!" Babamon said coming out of a room with a bunch of blankets in her hands.

The boys turned to Rika.

"We could have stayed in the castle. At least there's enough beds for all of us." Ryo stated.

Rika huffed. "I'd rather not go to some weird level of the digital world. We'll be fine here with Babamon and Jijimon. The only thing these two fight is each other."

They weren't very happy with that. Mostly because they knew that Rika and Renamon were going to get their own room while the remaining seven of them had to share one.

Babamon came over and directed the boys to one of the rooms while Rika headed for the bathroom. She wasn't going to go without taking a bath just because she was in the digital world. She started the bath and as the tub filled up she undressed, wandering around the bathroom looking for towels. Her search of the entire room came up empty. The room quickly filled with steam as Rika realized that it would be pointless to put her clothes back on. She cracked the bathroom door a bit to see if she could find anyone. Takato walked by and she quickly shut the door. Trapped in the bathroom with no towel, she panicked. After trying to calm herself down she figured that she'd just take her bath and then use her moist clothes as a towel. She got in and made herself comfortable. Yup, she was going to enjoy every ounce of this with or without a towel.

* * *

><p>"Do you think that you will be able to talk this through with Rika?" Henry asked sitting on the bed.<p>

Ryo was over near the closet checking to see what was inside.

"It'll be difficult. It explains why she never wanted to talk about me leaving." He said. "I had no idea she was in love with me."

"She isn't anymore." Terriermon added.

"Yeah, I think he already knows that." Takato mentioned to the rabbit.

"I wish I could say she's just in denial, but she flat out hates you." Henry sighed. "I mean I've never seen her treat Kazu as badly as she treats you."

"She does treat Kazu pretty badly, but just physically not so much verbally." Takato added.

"…" Ryo stopped what he was doing and just stared into the closet.

"Why did you leave anyway?" Renamon asked materializing in the room.

Ryo looked over. "Why?"

"Curious." She responded. "I have a right to know why my tamer is so angry."

He thought it over for a bit and decided to tell them the story. "That was such a great night. The night before I left." He began, instantly lost in his memory. "Everything seemed so perfect. Her school was having a dance, and she asked me to go with her. I guess it was one of those rare times that her school allows males on campus, but I wasn't complaining. She didn't want to go, but it was some kind of mandatory event. It was semi-formal, so I didn't have to get a tux or anything, but I made sure I looked nice. When I got to her house her mom answered and had me wait in the living room." He smiled. "She was too embarrassed to come out all because she was wearing a dress. She looked beautiful. Her hair was down and that dress! She really does look good in anything."

"You still care about her don't you?" Henry asked, but Ryo just shook his head.

He picked up where he left off. "We arrived at the dance and all the girls started to pick on her. They said things like her mother had to pay for me to go to the dance with her and that she probably had to spend hours trying to find an outfit to make her look even moderately pretty. I thought that was funny, because she was definitely the prettiest girl there. Afterword, we hung out for a bit near the park. That's when I told her that I was going to stay in the real world and try to return to school. That really was my plan. And I really don't remember much from there. Either the right things happened or the wrong things happened, but in the end we kissed." He closed his eyes. "I liked to flirt with her and I liked to annoy her, but I never thought that I'd actually develop feelings for her. And when that happened I realized that I cared too much for her." He pounded his hand against the closet. "If Millenniummon comes back he'll go after the people I care about the most. It'll be the easiest way to get me. So I left. I figured if I ended it before it became something then she wouldn't get hurt. I didn't know that she had already fallen for me."

Renamon left.

"What am I suppose to do?" He asked. "I'd do anything to get her to not hate me."

"Tell her the truth." Takato suggested.

"I've tried. On several occasions." He responded mentally beating himself over it.

Henry sat there and pondered the situation. "We'll figure something out, but we need to do it soon. If we're going to save the worlds we need to work together."

"I'm going to take a bath." Ryo said. He grabbed a towel from the closet. He walked into a little room that extended off from their room and started taking off his clothes. He just needed to relax. What he really needed was to get her off his mind.

"We'll think of something while you're in there." Henry spoke loudly so Ryo could hear him.

Ryo walked out with a towel around his waist. "Whatever it is, it'll have to work. She doesn't like talking to me as it is."

He made his way to the bathroom and opened the door walking inside. It was really steamy, so he had a hard time seeing anything. He walked further into the bathroom before seeing a figure in front of him.

Rika had just got out of the tub and had her back turned to the door. Water was dripping down her naked body as she tried to wring her hair out. She could have sworn that she heard something in the bathroom and turned slightly to see what was going on. They both blushed when their eyes met.

"I'm sorry!" He blurted quickly heading for the door,

"Get the fuck out, Akiyama!" She screamed as she started throwing her clothes at him.

"I didn't know you were in here I swear!" He cowered trying to find the door.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" She continued screaming running out of clothes to throw at him.

He looked back, but saw that she was still naked so he snapped his head forward.

"Why don't you put a towel on?" He asked finding the door and heading out.

Rika stopped as he closed it most of the way.

"I don't have one…" She said silently.

"Would you like me to get you one?" He asked hoping that she wasn't going to kill him for this.

"Give me your towel!" She demanded.

"What? I'm not wearing anything under this!"

"So? The world can see you naked!" She yelled frustrated.

"The world has already seen you naked!" He covered his mouth when he realized what he said.

"I will fucking slit your throat when you sleep!" She threatened her voice became cold.

"I didn't mean that." He said moving away from the door. "I'll go get you a towel."

He scurried back to the room, but he felt like his feet weren't moving fast enough. He barged into the room and ran over to the closet.

"I thought you were taking a bath?" Takato asked watching the man tear apart their closet.

"I kind of walked in on Rika…naked." Ryo blushed.

"Who was naked?" Henry asked.

"Her…" He said as he made his way back over to the door.

"Are you trying to make it so you two will never speak again?" Henry sighed.

"Subconsciously, I really think I am." He ran over to the bathroom and handed her the towel.

She quickly wrapped it around her body, collected her clothes, and stormed out.

"You really couldn't wait that long?" She hissed, her hair clinging to her body

"Can we really not fight like this?" Ryo asked pinning her against the bathroom door. "Look, yell at me after. I'll head over to your room and you can bitch at me all you want. Plus, I have something to tell you."

Rika pursed her lips adverting her eyes from him. "Fine, but knock." She stormed away.

* * *

><p>Rika sat on the bed in her clothes from earlier. She wore a black T-shirt that hung off one of her shoulders with dark blue jeans rolled up. She was brushing her hair when she heard a light knock at her door. She put her hairbrush down on the desk and gently opened the door a bit. There stood the tall brunette not paying any attention to her, but rather staring down the hall.<p>

"Yes?" She answered.

He turned to her and smiled, casually. "Can I come in?"

"Trying to see me naked again?" She asked, cross-armed.

"Yeah…" He laughed. "Knew that was coming. I didn't see anything I swear."

She opened the door further and let him come in. She gently closed it behind him.

She then turned to Renamon. "Leave us!"

The kitsune nodded as she disappeared.

"Is it alright if I sit on the bed?" He asked, his back to her.

"No, it's not alright for you to sit anywhere! You walked in on me naked! Do you honestly think I'm going to forget?" Rika yelled.

"I didn't see anything!" He repeated.

"I don't care if you did or didn't! You fucking walked in on me naked!" She screamed jabbing her finger into his chest.

"Look, I need to talk to you." He scratched the back of his neck.

"I don't think you're listening to me!" She was pissed.

"I am listening to you." He spoke calmly.

"I don't think you are!" She jammed her finger into him a few more times.

"Would you just listen to me?" He asked trying to remain calm, but she was pushing his buttons.

"No, I will not listen to you!" She shouted. "You dare think that anything you have to say to me is more important than anything I have to say to you?"

"Yeah, actually." He smiled.

She balled her fist and went to strike him. He caught her wrist and she was off guard. He pulled her in and gently placed a kiss on her lips. Just a peck, nothing more. He let her go. Her face turned bright red before smacking him as hard as she could with her right hand completely open.

"Who told you to kiss me!" She screamed in ultimate rage.

"Do you know how hard it is to talk to you?" He rubbed his cheek. "That's why I did that!"

Her face went through a variety of emotions. "If you want to keep your manhood I suggest you leave right now." She was shaking with rage.

"No." He responded. "And you need to stop slapping me."

"Oh quit complaining! You can't even feel pain here!"

"It's the thought that counts, Princess." He was intentionally trying to make her as angry as possible with him.

"Ah!" She screamed as she lunged at him knocking them both to the ground. She drew her fist back, but he just lie there looking at her. She punched the floor right next to his head with her fist. He didn't even wince.

"I've got to tell you." He said after a while. "I'm not a bottom type of person." He smirked before flipping her to the bottom pinning her down, again.

"What are you doing?" She growled blowing her hair out of her face.

"I figure if I can piss you off enough you'll shut up." She struggled beneath him.

"Fine…" She was out of breath but she managed to say it. "You win."

"I know you hate to lose." He smiled.

She struggled one last time. "And you don't seem to know how to lose. I find that incredibly irritating!"

"Are you going to listen to me?" He asked not like she had much of a choice.

"Yes, I'll listen to you." She was breathing hard.

"I want you to know why I left six years ago." He said. "And I think you have the wrong idea."

"I don't care why you left!" She growled trying to get up.

"You do!" He pushed her back down. "You wouldn't keep bringing it up if you really knew why I left."

"Whatever you have to say I doubt it'll make up for the fact that you just up and left without telling anyone." She said.

"You're right. It won't make up for that. I should have told you that I was leaving. It was stupid, idiotic and moronic. And you have no idea how much I want to apologize for it."

"You can't!"

"You've got to learn to forgive, Rika. Are we seriously going to continue to fight like this until we're both dead?" He asked. "You've got to let it go…"

She turned her head. She wanted him off of her so she asked: "Why did you leave?"

He stared her down, intently, hoping that she'd actually listen to him. "I was afraid of what would happen if anyone found out that I cared about you." He said. "That night you made me realize that I cared for you far more than I thought I did. I couldn't and I still can't give you the life you deserve unless you want to live every second of your life wondering if you'll live to see another day. I have too many people after me, Rika. Too many people after my head. If they knew that I cared about anyone… I can't let people in. That's why I left." He got off of her and headed over to the door. "I didn't want that kind of life for you. I figured it'd be easier if you forgot I ever existed."

"Ryo!" She called as he opened the door.

He turned to her. She was rubbing her right arm and looking solely at him.

"Why couldn't you have just told me that?"

"I was stupid and 14." He responded.

They stood there in silence for a bit. Rika sighed.

"I just want you to know that I never…" She bit her lower lip. "…found anyone to replace you…"

He smiled. "I'm one of a kind, but don't worry you'll find the right person for you. He's just not me."

She nodded her head slowly as he walked out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>First of all I just want to say that the kiss in this chapter meant absolutely nothing. Ryo just did it to piss her off. Also, you guys are going to hate me next chapter, but I won't tell you why xD.<strong>

**Also, just to clarify, Ryo has met all the digidestined. He was once a digidestined, but he's now considered a tamer. In the first game he appeared in he actually had to rescue all the digidestined. He later on fights some of them to, not to his knowledge, train to beat Moon=Millenniummon. This leads to him feeling betrayed by them and ultimately leads to his decision to not return to their dimension.**

**Is Impmon/Beelzemon flirting with Renamon?** They kind of flirt with each other. In the American release of the show Renamon and Impmon had a bit of a love/hate relationship (I'm not sure if any other versions had this, so that's why I'm saying that). I decided to play on it.

**Was Rika or Renamon (or both) teasing Cyberdramon?** They both were. But not so much teasing as in flirting, but teasing as in instigating him (or provoking).

**Is Ryo's injury healed?** No, it's not bothering him because he's in the digital world.

**BTW I love how some of you are like they need to have make up sex and it needs to have lots of spanking! Lol, you guys are great. :D**

**-Aninika**


	9. Chapter 8

**_EDIT: Chapter has had content added to it!_**

**This is the shortest chapter by far, but I didn't want to go any further with it than where I went. So, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 8::.~<p>

**R**ika waited until it was really late before she headed out into the living room. She thought it weird that Ryo telling her the truth behind him leaving brought her so much relief. She had felt for all these years that he had left because of her. She hated herself for that. She felt like she was too forward with her feelings, and from that experience she learned to not be so forward. Four boyfriends later, look where she was: sitting in a room in the middle of the digital world feeling like the no one cared about her. Her grandmother, the only person she could reside in, was gone. Now where was she to go? Henry? He had his own life to worry about. He spent most of his free time with Alice. It wouldn't be long before those two would be together. Jeri? Jeri couldn't keep a secret if Rika had cut out her tongue and chopped off her hands and feet. Who would she turn to?

She sat down on the sofa in front of a small fire that Jijimon had started hours ago. Rika got up and threw another log on and sat back down. She found a blanket to cover up with. Renamon. Renamon could keep all of her secrets, but she didn't understand things, experiences, that humans did.

"Would you like something to drink?" Babamon asked.

Rika turned to the elderly Digimon and nodded her head.

"I'll make you some tea." She pranced over to the kitchen, grabbed a kettle and added water to it before placing it over the fire.

"You use to be a Rosemon once, didn't you?" Rika asked noticing the pink Tifaret hanging around her neck.

"Oh, that was a long time ago." She blushed joining Rika on the sofa. "Age can bring about some changes to appearance. Remember that as you get older."

"So, what are you doing up so late?" Rika asked watching Babamon pour the water into teacups.

"Oh, Jijimon snores worse than a ShogunGekomon." She laughed while handing Rika a cup. "Now what are you doing up so late?"

"Thinking…"

"About?"

Rika smiled. "You know, my grandma use to ask me questions all the time. She always wanted to know what was going on with me."

"Sounds like a nice lady."

"She was." Rika looked at her tea. "She died today. Well I guess it's yesterday now isn't it?"

"I'm sorry." Babamon said placing a hand on Rika's shoulder.

Henry walked over to the redhead. "Can't sleep?"

Rika nodded her head.

"You know, Ryo seemed relieved when he came back to the room. You guys actually talked?"

"Forcefully." She said as he took a seat next to her. Babamon was boiling more water.

Henry ran a hand through his hair wondering why he was up so late. Babamon handed him a cup of tea.

"What did he tell you?" Rika asked holding the cup in both hands.

"He told us all the story of why he left. He didn't mean to hurt you." Henry took a sip. "Do you still care about him?"

"I care when he gets hurt." She said.

"That's all?"

"I don't know…"

"He denies it, but he really does care about you. He tries to hide it, because he's worried about your safety." Henry smiled. "It explains a lot though. Why he never wanted to be around us all that often. I mean when I think about it we really only saw him when we needed his help."

"He's a great ally to have." She admitted. "He's strong, knowledgeable, he's got the experience, he's stubborn and a risk taker. And he never loses…"

"If we're up against both Millenniummon and the D-Reaper we need someone who never loses."

Takato came wandering out of the room rubbing his eyes.

"What? Can anyone sleep?" Rika asked.

"Not sleep?" Takato asked still half asleep. "I have to go to the bathroom."

Henry and Rika looked at each other before laughing.

"Takato, normal bodily functions don't work while we're in the digital world." Henry told him.

"Oh…" He rubbed his eyes again and wandered back into the room.

The duo laughed.

"Next Ryo will come out." Rika said.

"I doubt that." Henry chuckled. "Ryo sleeps like a dead dog. He won't wake up for anything. That kid's got nerves of steel."

Rika looked back at her cup of tea.

"You know." Henry had to laugh. "I'm jealous…of Ryo."

Rika turned her attention to him. He was staring at the fire.

"You loved him…" Henry said closing his eyes. "You couldn't love me, though."

A few years after Ryo left, Rika and Henry tried dating. He was her second boyfriend, and they had grown quite close in the years prior. Rika learned quickly that she didn't have the same feelings for Henry as the ones he had for her. She felt like he was a brother, and she found it odd feeling like she was dating her brother.

"I do love you." She told him.

"Not the way you loved him." He sighed.

"Yes, but if we were still together you wouldn't be with Alice."

"I'm not with Alice!"

"Not yet." Rika smiled slightly. "I can tell when you look at her. She's the one, Henry. Don't screw it up."

Henry nodded his head and stood up. "By the way, happy birthday, Rika."

She was surprised he remembered. "Thanks."

* * *

><p>Morning came too soon for the Tamers and their Digimon. They helped clean up the house, and with less of a hassle than the last time Rika and Renamon ventured there, they were on their way.<p>

Takato pulled out the pad and checked to see if there were any messages from Yamaki. When he saw that there weren't he became a bit irritated.

"How long are they going to keep us here?" He asked tapping the stylus against his mouth. He then turned his attention to Ryo and Rika. "What are those two doing over there?"

Ryo and Rika had distanced themselves from the group. Well most of the group, Monodramon was there with them. Rika was pushing her hair out of her face and Ryo was kneeling on the ground sifting dirt through his hand. They were all facing away from Takato and Henry.

"At least we're on level one of the digital world. That way if Yamaki gets a hold of us we're already here." Ryo stood up removing the dirt from his hands.

"I suppose." She was completely unenthused.

They had wandered away from the group to see what was going on. Ryo was a bit suspicious of the digital world and the things going on around them. He feared that whoever sent that rogue data stream, that sent him to the real world, might try and do something with them. Though wandering away from the group wasn't his most brilliant idea if this were to happen. Rika had wandered over shortly after without Renamon for whatever reason. He didn't mind. Though "I suppose" was the first thing she said to him all day.

He smiled. "Happy birthday, Pumpkin."

Rika glanced in his direction. "Surprised you can remember that after six years."

"I don't forget things easily." He said looking at Earth. "I had amnesia once. Since then I've made sure to remember as much as possible."

"What lame brain thing did you do to get amnesia?" She asked practically laughing at him. How was he stupid enough to lose all his memories?

"People get amnesia all the time." He replied. "I didn't do anything. Monodramon here helped me get my memories back."

Thinking about the time he got amnesia bothered him. The Digidestined had betrayed him so what better way to get back at them than leaving their dimension forever? But something happened when he arrived in the Tamer's dimension. Not only was he sent to the beginning of the digital world, but he also had no memories of anything. That's when he met ENIAC and Monodramon. ENIAC had asked Monodramon to accompany Ryo until his memories returned. But when they did all Ryo could think to do was be cold to Monodramon. He regretted that for the longest time. Even now he doesn't feel like he's apologized to Monodramon enough for being so cold to him.

"I hear something rumbling." Monodramon told them.

The duo looked at the ground as it started to shake. The vibrations were massive causing cracks in the ground. There was a loud and violent shake that caused a giant crevice to open under Rika's feet.

"Ryo!" She shouted as she fell into it.

Ryo dived over to her and snatched her hand. The force of him doing that caused her to slam against the side of the crevice, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let her go.

"Don't look down." He told her. "Keep your eyes on me."

"Ryo!" Monodramon shouted looking at the others.

Another giant crevice had opened in between them and the others, and out from it exploded what looked to be molten lava.

"Rika!" Renamon shouted trying to find a way around the explosion.

"What is it?" Ryo asked struggling to hold on to Rika. It looked familiar, but at the same time different. He didn't get a very good chance to look at it, because he was too focused on keeping Rika from falling.

"I'm slipping." She told him both their hands sweaty. She looked down.

"I told you not to look down!" He yelled at her his arm had extended as far as it could.

"Pull me up!" She begged.

"I'd love to." He groaned trying. "I can't get a good grip up here. Sand isn't exactly made for this kind of thing."

Rika was silent for a bit, but he could see that she was thinking a great deal about something.

"If this keeps up you'll fall in too." She said to him.

"Don't you dare think about letting go!" He yelled to her. "I'm not going to let you fall."

"I'm sorry, Ryo." She told him. "I'm sorry for everything. I don't really hate you."

"Stop it!" He shouted. "I don't want to hear it. You sound like you're giving up, but the Rika I know doesn't give up."

"There's no way both of us are going to make it out alive." She said. "You've got to let me go!"

"Monodramon!" Ryo yelled.

Monodramon started running over to him when the ground shook again. This caused Ryo to fall into the crevice, but he luckily managed to grab a hold of a rock protruding from the wall. He looked at his hand and noticed he wouldn't be able to hold on for long.

Monodramon got himself up and ran over to where they were dangling. The two were too far down for him to be able to reach.

"I need to digivolve!" He shouted to Ryo. He would be able to save them as Cyberdramon.

"I can't reach my D-arc." He said clinging to Rika's hand.

"Ryo, just drop me!" She begged.

"No!" He shouted back his hand slipping. "I can't let you die on your birthday!"

"Screw that!" She yelled. "Do you want to die?"

"No, I don't, but that doesn't mean you should want to." He told her.

Tears started to fill her eyes. "You big twerp, you're going to get us both killed."

He showed her his trademark smile. "Can't you believe in me for once?" His hand slipped a bit more.

"I wonder how far this goes down." She was looking into what seemed to be eternal darkness.

"Don't think like that!" He told her. "Do you see a ledge?"

Rika looked around. "No, I can't see anything."

Two of his fingers slipped off the rock.

"Monodramon!"

"Yeah?"

"Go get the others!" He demanded. When the Digimon ran away he slipped off the rock.

Ryo pulled Rika to him, grabbing her in a tight embrace, as they fell head first into the darkness.

"This is it isn't it?" She asked as though they weren't falling at all. "The last thing I'm going to remember is hugging you."

"I think that's a good way to go. Knowing that someone cares about you." He said to her.

"So that's it? Our lives are going to end at the bottom of this pit?" She tried to look around but it was useless.

"Rika…" He said.

"What?" She whispered.

"I never wanted to leave you. I would have loved to stay with you and have fallen in love. I just didn't want…I still don't want you to get hurt. I care about you more than I've ever cared about anything."

"And you're telling me this now as we're falling to our deaths?"

"I figured you should know." He smiled knowing that she wouldn't be able to see, but it made him feel better.

She touched his cheek feeling the smoothness of his skin before pushing her hand into his hair.

"You're an idiot." She laughed tears falling from her eyes.

"So you've told me." He chuckled feeling her pull his face closer to hers.

They embraced in a kiss. She figured if they were going to die that she was going to let him know that she still cared about him in a way that only actions, not words, could describe. He held her close as he poured every ounce of his passion and feeling for her into their kisses. He had longed for this. He hated thinking that he was going to have to go through his entire life without ever letting her know exactly how he felt about her. He had fallen in love with her, but it wasn't until sometime after he left her for good that he realized it. He had, honestly, never expected to see her again in his lifetime. And when he did he knew that he had to give up those feelings for her. He knew that she wouldn't want him anyway when he returned.

He turned them both so that they were no longer falling head first, but so that he was on the bottom.

"What are you doing?" She asked breaking away from his lips.

"You're going to live."

"The force of this fall will kill us both!"

He shook his head. "The force will be directly impacted on me. You'll be hurt, but you should survive."

"No!" She shouted. "There's no way either of us will survive this, and I don't want to if you're not going to."

"At least you won't have to worry about ZeedMillenniummon."

"I won't let you kill yourself for me!" She told him forcing another kiss upon his lips.

It was at that moment that they hit the ground.

* * *

><p><strong>OMG did I seriously just kill them off? Guess you'll have to wait and read the next chapter :D<strong>

**Is Ken going to appear?** In due time.

**So, I'm so mad at myself! I'm actually starting to fall behind. For the last 4-5 chapters I've had the one after it finished and was working on the after that. Yesterday, was very unproductive for writing, so now I'm working away at chapter 9...still. ARG :(**

**Don't hate me too much xD**

**-Aninika**


	10. Chapter 9

**_EDIT: Chapter has had content added!_**

**Yay, I finished this chapter and I even wrote the next one and started the one after that. I'm back up to speed :D. So, I must warn you. I've been in the mood to write lately which is why I'm cranking all these chapters out so fast, but when this dies down the chapters won't come so quickly. But I'm still in the mood to write so :D**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 9::.~<p>

**S**he opened her eyes slightly, her vision blurry, so she closed them. Something kept calling her name and she found it annoying. She didn't feel any pain, but she couldn't move. Her eyelids shot open.

There was some kind of light that allowed her to make out the figure next to her. It was Renamon bent over and gently shaking her. She was on her back.

"Rena…mon?" She felt dizzy, disoriented.

"You're awake." The fox sounded relieved.

"What happened?" She couldn't remember.

Renamon paused for a bit. "You fell."

It all came thundering back to her. The ground shaking, falling, falling with…with…

"Ryo!" Rika shouted rolling over and forcing herself to get up. She was weak and didn't understand why.

"No, Rika." Renamon grabbed her as she fell back down. "Your data has been damaged massively."

"Where's Ryo?" She asked remembering what he had done. "Where is he?"

"Rika…"

Rika started to cry. It wasn't possible. Ryo couldn't be gone.

"He's still alive." She said. "He shouldn't be. The amount of damage he's taken…his data is completely unstable. I'll be surprised if he makes it out of here."

"Take me to him…" She told her partner.

"You don't want to see him." It wasn't a suggestion.

Renamon and the others had found Rika lying on top of him and wrapped in his arms. They were all shocked, but not surprised that he had sacrificed himself to save her. Rika was still damaged pretty badly, but Ryo…he'd be lucky if he made it back to the real world. Takato and Guilmon were attending to him. Well, they were trying to. No one knew what to do for him. Even the slightest movement could cause his data to burst, and then Akiyama, Ryo would be no more. That's when Renamon made the decision to pull Rika away from Ryo, so that when she woke up she wouldn't have to see him like that.

"Yamaki finally got a hold of us and we're going to get you guys to the real world. The problem is that the injuries you received will kill you if not from pain alone. Shibumi said he's going to work on a code to knock you both out. He said it's something like what you would call a medically induced coma."

"What about Ryo? Won't he die if we go back?" She asked. It was weird knowing that she should be in immense pain, but not feeling anything.

"He'll remain data, he's been exposed for too long a time. He's got a greater chance of living once we get back there than you do." Renamon told her.

"So what now?" Rika asked.

"We're going to try and infuse data that's blowing around this level into your body. If we can repair some of your damaged data you'll have a better chance of surviving in the real world."

"What about Ryo?" She was worried.

"He's too weak to survive a data infusion. Our best bet is to get him back to Henry's father and the others if we want him to survive." Renamon touched Rika concerned. "Rika, I wouldn't get your hopes up. His chances of survival are almost non existent."

"He's too stubborn to die…" Rika closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>"I see you got released from the hospital." Janyu smiled as the redhead approached him.<p>

"Yeah, a few hours ago."

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better than I was a week ago." She was carrying a paper bag filled with pastries and bread. The data infusions helped make it so that she could survive, but she still needed medical attention. The doctors patched her up pretty well. The pain medication also helped.

Janyu stuck one of his hands in his lab coat. "You can go in and see him if you'd like. He's awake." Rika nodded. "I just have to tell you that he's in immense pain, so try not to touch him. Because of his condition we're having a hard time administering pain killers."

Ryo wasn't taken to the hospital like Rika was. He was brought immediately upstairs to a spare room in Hypnos. There, the Monster Makers set up a fake hospital room and began to work their magic. They had all taken turns, for hours, repairing his damaged data. Now, Ryo wasn't even close to being satisfactory, but he'd live to see another day.

Rika opened the door, quietly entered and shut it. There, Ryo was lying in the bed. She approached him placing the bag on a table that stood nearby. Balloons, stuffed animals and get-well cards decorated his room just in the same way that hers was before checking out that morning. She sat in a chair next to his bed.

He struggled but managed to turn to her. "Hey…"

"Hey." She said back. "You should be dead."

"So they keep telling me." He coughed. "Could you help me sit up?"

"Sure, what do you need?" She stood up.

"Just readjust my pillows." He told her.

She fixed them so that he'd be able to lean against them as he struggled to sit up. She wanted to help, but he looked like he was in enough pain as it was and she didn't want to make it any worse.

"You know…" She caught his attention. "I find a man in bandages rather sexy."

And Ryo had plenty of them.

He smiled. "Then you must be having a hard time resisting the urge to do me." Sick or not, Ryo was still Ryo.

"You look better than you did the last time I saw you." She smiled at him. She remembered the Tamers lifting them both out of the crevice. The way he looked…she never wanted to see him that way again.

"I feel like someone is continuously breaking my body." He winced. "There's no way I should have survived that."

"If it had happened here you wouldn't have."

He tried to get comfortable.

"How do you feel about me?" She asked. Her mind wandering to those moments while they were falling.

"You're confusing as fuck." He tried to laugh. "But you're wondering if all that was heat of the moment."

"I'll tell you that I'm really confused." She said. "I thought that I really did hate you. And for a long time I really did. What you did to me all those years ago; I'll never forget. But what happened as we were falling, that's all true. When I think about you dying I get angry and upset. I don't want you to die, and if you were to die I don't think…I'd be able to go on. You mean too much to me. You always have. And whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not… well that's another story."

"Rika…" He sighed. "There can't be an us. I won't let you get hurt."

"You obviously care about me!" She blurted. "And I care about you. Whether you want to admit those feelings or not is up to you, but you can't deny them. What, just because we aren't together they're going to think that you don't care about me? If Millenniummon is you then he already knows how you feel about everyone."

"Rika…"

"If you don't want to be with me just tell me, but don't go around lying about your feelings!" She yelled at him.

"I don't like seeing you hurt." He said. "I'll do anything to make sure that you're ok."

"I can handle myself, Ryo." She walked over to him. "I'm not weak."

"I know…" He was drained.

"No matter what you choose as your answer I'll still care about you, but don't think I'm going to wait around forever. You already missed your first chance and I'm only giving you two chances."

He smiled as he dozed off to sleep.

"Ryo?" She went to touch him, but drew her hand back.

Janyu entered the room. "Oh, sorry. I should have told you. Dolphin wrote a code that randomly knocks him out, so that he can get some pain free sleep. We'll take it out, of course, when he's more manageable." He explained. "Did you get enough time to talk to him?"

"Yes." She replied. She hoped that Ryo would consider what she told him. Rika could survive with not being Ryo's girlfriend. She'd been doing it all her life, but she didn't want him going around and lying to himself anymore. Whatever Ryo's reason behind closing himself off was needed to be thrown in the past. Perhaps she could get to him and let him know that he really wasn't alone. That, whatever his problems were they could be handled with the help of his friends. She wanted him to know more than anything that someone did care about him. Even if that someone was her. And yes she did like him, but she could go on without him. She had been for so long, but she'd always be there for him. He was, after all, the only man she cared about more than Kisuke.

"Good." He looked at the boy sleeping in the bed. "How is your mother doing?"

"Better than me." She meant that injuries wise. Rumiko was having an unbearably hard time dealing with the death of her mother which was understandable. Rumiko relied so much on her mother's advice that she couldn't function without her. This drove Rika insane. If she thought her mother was unbearable before well she was completely wrong. Her mother had refused to leave her side the entire time Rika was in the hospital. Rumiko was so worried that she was going to lose Rika as well. Rika was perfectly manageable when she returned to the real world it was just she had some minor internal bleeding and several lacerations, but Rumiko seemed to be playing it up for all it was worth. Rika still felt horrible for what happened to her grandma. And then Ryo almost died. She couldn't be in any worse condition if a train had hit her. Without her grandma, Rika was going to try and learn to get along with her mother. Perhaps that's why Ryo started to mean so much more to her.

"Understandable." He fixed his glasses. "Oh, Yamaki wants you to meet him downstairs when you're done up here."

Rika nodded her head. She looked at him sleeping for a bit and hoped that whatever decision he made regarding her was backed by something other than fear. She watched as Janyu hooked him up to a computer and decided to take her leave.

* * *

><p>Rika entered the lab and immediately noticed Yamaki talking with two people she had never seen before. One had short red hair, like hers, and he was standing next to a man who was a few inches taller with massively wild hair.<p>

_And I thought Ryo's hair was crazy._

Yamaki looked past the two men and saw the girl head over.

"Good, you're here." Yamaki said as she joined him and the others. "This is Nonaka, Rika. She's one of the Tamers."

"Hello, Miss Nonaka. I'm Izumi, Izzy." He held out his hand. She took it.

The first thing that Rika noticed about him was that his eyes were peculiar, solid black. Another thing that she found interesting was the fact that he was wearing a long woven brown sweater with baggy blue jeans. He looked as though he were dressed for fall or winter when it was clearly mid May.

"I'm Kamiya, Tai. We're friends of Ryo's." He hesitated to say the word friends.

Tai on the other hand was dressed for spring. He wore khaki shorts and a baby blue T-shirt with two fat dark blue stripes running diagonally across his torso.

"Sorry for my strange clothing choice. It's late fall where I came from. Tai here dresses like that all year long." Izzy explained.

"A man's got to feel comfortable in the clothes he chooses." Tai crossed his arms.

"Where exactly are you from?" Rika asked. She was never big on the Digimon television show just the card game. To her these were completely random people not icons.

"Tai and Izzy are Digidestined from the other dimension." Yamaki told her.

"We happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Izzy sighed.

"So how is Ryo doing?" Yamaki asked suspecting that she had just visited him. He knew that she was released earlier this morning, and from information from the other Tamers he knew a bit of her situation with Ryo.

"He's in a lot of pain."

"They're doing their best to piece him back together." Yamaki assured her. "Come, I have something I want you to see."

Yamaki took the three of them into another chamber. This chamber was lit up by an orange light that emitted from a large cannon looking device in the middle of the floor. They walked right over the opening on a manmade bridge. Towards the back of the room sat 10 giant glass tubes filled with some kind of liquid and hooked to many computers. Yamaki took them over to the furthest tube on the right.

"Monodramon!" Rika yelled placing her hands on the glass. "What is he doing in there?"

"He's too big of a threat to let roam around. Here, we can keep track of him and see what is going on inside. This way we can monitor any changes that may occur when Millenniummon takes over."

Rika shot him a cold glare. "Ryo's going to be pissed when he sees what you've done to his partner!"

"That's Ryo's partner?" Tai asked.

"Better yet, that's really Millenniummon?" Izzy asked astounded. He couldn't understand how that tiny Digimon could be at all related to Millenniummon.

"Are you not the Digidestined? How do you not know Ryo's partner? Didn't he help you out?" Rika looked at them surprised.

Tai shook his head. "The last time we saw Ryo he didn't have a partner."

_When did Monodramon become his partner?_

Rika crossed her arms. "Then you should know that Monodramon and ZeedMillenniummon formed a jogress and now coexist in that body." She was only repeating what she heard Ryo say. She didn't exactly know at all what it meant. Well besides it being someway that the two Digimon became one.

"I've never heard of such a thing." Izzy was truly astounded. He moved closer to the tube and inspected Monodramon. "I'd like to run some tests of my own. If that's alright with you?" He asked Yamaki.

"You'll have to talk with the Monster Makers about that." Yamaki was giving the Monster Makers full control of this situation once Ryo gave his permission that is. Until then this was just a safety precaution.

"Why are you showing me this?" Rika asked.

"I want you to tell Ryo what you've seen here, and I want you to ask him for his help." Yamaki looked at the Digimon floating in the tube. "We need Monodramon to become Cyberdramon. Once in that form we want to try and separate the beings that reside inside him."

"You want to set Millenniummon free?" Rika asked. "Are you crazy?"

"I have to agree with Rika. Separating them sounds like a bad idea. If Millenniummon truly resides inside Monodramon he cannot digivolve without the help of Ryo. Leaving them as one being would be safer." Izzy stated.

"If we separate them then we don't lose Monodramon in the fight against Millenniummon." Yamaki told them.

"But then you set Millenniummon free, and force us to have to fight him!" Rika shouted.

"Millenniummon will try and take control of that body if the worlds combining is truly what he wants. If we don't separate them then Ryo can't use his partner and we lose a mega on our team." Yamaki told her. He was thinking more of what would happen rather than the consequences of his actions.

"Either way, it sounds like we're going to see Millenniummon again." Tai clenched his fist.

"Also, I'd like you to tell him that we analyzed that red mass you saw in the Digital world. It's the D-Reaper."

"Anything else?" Rika growled.

"No."

"Whatever!" Rika turned back to the tube. She withdrew herself from it and turned to leave.

Tai grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry, but I have a favor to ask."

* * *

><p>"Rika?" Ryo smiled. "What are you doing back here?"<p>

"Yamaki asked me to relay a few messages for him." She said as she approached his bed. "And I brought some of your friends."

"Friends?" Ryo asked confused. Besides the Tamers and Digimon that he had met he didn't have any friends.

Rika moved out of his way to the door as Tai and Izzy wandered in. Ryo's face hardened.

"Rika, could you get me a glass of water?" He asked staring at the two.

"You have a cup right here."

He just shot her a look.

She sighed. "If you wanted me to leave you could have just said that."

"I didn't want to seem rude." He told her.

"Yeah…" She looked at him before taking her leave. She turned back when she reached the door. "I still want to know your answer."

"I'll tell you later." He smiled.

Rika looked at Tai and Izzy. "He randomly falls asleep. Just so you know." She left.

"You're a narcoleptic now?" Tai chuckled. Ryo returned it with a glare. "Ok…"

"I spoke with Gennai." Izzy piped up. "He said that even if you guys teamed up with us we'd still have a hard time beating ZeedMillenniummon. He did give me information on another Sovereign though."

Ryo adjusted himself so that he could see Izzy better. "There are five Sovereign?"

"Surprised me too." Izzy moved to the chair. "According to Gennai, Lucemon locked up the fifth sovereign. It is said that he is unbeatable and is neither good nor evil. But that's also the problem with him. Gennai says we'll need to find a way to get him to work with us without him turning on us."

"That's the only solution he could offer?" Ryo asked his pain overwhelming.

Izzy nodded his head.

"The Sovereign won't accept that. I cannot place my trust in a being that cannot be controlled." Ryo tried to relax.

"We'll help you guys in this fight." Tai stated. "It's not like you're on your own."

Ryo turned his head away.

"Are you still not talking to me?" Tai asked.

Ryo didn't answer.

"That girl…she's absolutely beautiful." Tai commented. "She cares a lot about you."

"Don't talk about her like you know her." Ryo hissed.

"Come on, Tai." Izzy said. "If you need anything Ryo we'll be here."

They both headed out of the room. Rika was leaning against a wall. She approached them.

"I need to talk to you."

"Yeah?" Tai asked. Izzy shut the door.

"It's about Ryo."

* * *

><p>She took them to a lounge on that floor and started making herself some tea. Izzy looked around the room as Tai made himself comfortable of the sofa.<p>

"What was Ryo like when you knew him?" She asked.

Tai looked at her curiously. "Why don't you just ask him?"

"Ryo…doesn't like to talk about his past."

"That's no surprise." Izzy said. "He went through a lot."

"I guess…" Tai placed his arms behind his head and casually leaned back. "What do you want to know?"

She sat across from him. "He has trust issues. Why?"

"Well that one is a bit tricky. I'm assuming that besides us Ryo didn't have any friends. He wasn't very good with people, and the Sovereign didn't do much to help that. We set up a tournament to train him to beat Millenniummon, but we didn't know it at the time. We were informed that the winner of the tournament would become the greatest tamer ever." Tia sighed. "There were other kids there and they all picked on him saying things like there was no way a kid like him actually fought and defeated Millenniummon. When Ryo found out that the tournament was rigged well that's when he completely stopped talking to all of us. I think that's when he decided that he couldn't trust anyone." Tai sighed. "I guess he feels like we betrayed him."

"Because of that he's never been able to trust anyone. He always tries to do things himself." She said staring at the liquid in her cup.

"Now, I have a question for you." Tai leaned forward. "Are you Ryo's girlfriend?"

"What?" He surprised her. She nearly dropped her cup. "No, I'm not!"

"You don't have to get so defensive." Tai laughed.

"Sorry." She turned her head. She didn't understand why she was being so defensive about it. She did care about him, and wouldn't mind actually becoming his girlfriend. So why did she snap at Tai?

"Ryo's never been much of a ladies man." Tai smiled. "Mimi asked him out once, and even though she was being forward with him he didn't understand what she meant and kind of blew her off."

"Mimi asked Ryo out?" Izzy was astounded.

"Yeah, she was pissed for a while after." Tai laughed. "He doesn't mean to be oblivious he's just that kind of person."

"He's so flirtatious." She sighed. "You'd never expect that someone like him would be so oblivious."

"I'm sure he's better now that he's in his twenties." Tia leaned back. "So does he flirt with all the girls or just you?"

"Every male flirts with me." She stood up and threw her cup away. "The joys of being a model."

"That didn't answer my question."

She pushed her hair behind her ears. "I'm the only one he flirts with."

"So why aren't you two together? It's obvious that you really like each others."

"Tai!" Izzy yelled at him.

"I told you. He's got some trust issues and I-he's really confusing!" She sighed. "He says it's because he doesn't want me hurt. But I'm strong enough to handle myself! Why the fuck doesn't he understand that?" She was pacing the floor. "I mean he already broke my heart once, so I don't even know why I'm giving him a second chance! I can't stand him sometimes! He's risked his life for mine three times, and yet he can't trust anyone? How does that make sense?" She turned to the boys, but they were giving her blank stares. "Sorry…he irritates me sometimes."

"I can see that." Tai said.

"I just… I care about him. But the way he says things and the way he treats everyone it's like he wants to stay as far away from us as possible." She looked out one of the windows. It was raining. "I haven't been treating him the greatest lately, but do I deserve this? Perhaps I do, but I trust him. Why can't he trust me?"

* * *

><p>"It's still going to be a while before we get you completely patched up." Daisy said typing away on the computer. "I know the pain isn't pleasant, but we're doing our best."<p>

"You guys placed a program into me that knocks me out can't you do the same for the pain?" He asked it felt like the longer he was awake the worse the pain got.

"If we could we would have done it already." She stood up and grabbed his arm. "I need to check your wounds."

She started unraveling the garments and Ryo winced in pain.

"You're dealing with this rather well. I know you're in more pain than you're letting anyone see." She studied him.

"He's stubborn." Rika said as she walked to the other side of his bed. "That's why he didn't die."

Daisy smiled. "You've been in here quite a bit today."

She was looking intently at Ryo. "He did save my life."

"Well-" She said after removing all the dressings from his upper body. "Besides that gash on your back that you got a while ago you're healing nicely." She looked up at Rika. "I'm going to get new dressings for him."

Rika watched as Daisy left.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"You'd be surprised how well pain medication works." She smiled. "I'm not bad. The data infusions they gave me healed most of my problems. I've got some pretty severe bruises on my torso and some on my legs, but other than that I'm ok."

Ryo could see the bruises on her legs. She was wearing jean booty shorts with tears all over them and brown flip-flops.

"You look like shit." She said looking at what part of his upper body she could see. He had cuts everywhere. Even his face looked bad.

"Thanks, Princess." He tried to laugh, but it came out more like a cough. "So where did Tai and Izzy go?"

"Back down to see Yamaki." She said. "They're worried about you too."

"I don't want to talk about them." He looked towards the door.

"You're angry at them, because you thought that they betrayed you, but they didn't, Ryo." She knelt on the floor. "They had no idea that tournament was rigged."

"So they told you?"

"Of course, they're worried about you. And Tai regrets what happened."

Ryo was silent for a bit. He turned his head back to Rika. "Why don't you grab a chair?"

"Yeah…" She stood up and grabbed a chair.

"So you said you had some messages for me from Yamaki?" He asked.

"Hey, you're getting off topic." She scolded jokingly.

"I don't want to talk about them…"

She sighed. "Alright. Yamaki is having the Monster Makers work on a program to separate Millenniummon from Monodramon."

"What?" He struggled to sit up.

She went over and gently pushed him back down. "Relax. You can't move."

"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" He shouted. "And Monodramon is letting him do this?"

Rika shook her head. "Monodramon doesn't have a choice. He's got him floating in some kind of tube. They're running diagnostics on him as we speak."

"I've got to stop him!" Ryo tried to get up.

"Stop!" Rika placed her hands on him. "You're in no condition to do such a thing."

"I don't care!" He fought with her.

Daisy entered the room and saw Ryo struggling with Rika. She ran over and helped Rika lie him back down.

"You can't do anything. And Yamaki can't either. They need you to digivolve Monodramon to Cyberdramon if they are going to continue."

"I want him out of that tube!" Ryo yelled.

"Stop struggling you're only going to hurt yourself more." Daisy told him.

"He's my partner!"

"Ryo relax!" Rika demanded. "Look, we'll get him out of there just please calm down."

Ryo relaxed. He was breathing furiously the pain he was experiencing was too much. He wouldn't be able to get past either of them if he had tried with all his might.

"I don't want him treated as some sort of experiment." Ryo said.

"I can talk with Yamaki." Daisy offered. "We haven't started doing anything with him as of yet anyway."

Rika nodded. "See? We'll get him out."

Ryo leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He needed to relax.

"There's something else." Rika said. "Yamaki said that red mass you saw in the digital world was in fact the D-Reaper."

"It's starting…" Ryo said. "He's been waiting for this. I can feel it."

"Doesn't he want the universes combined?" Rika asked.

Ryo nodded his head in pain. "He'll wait for that to happen, but I'm sure he'll start gathering his power now. As I grow stronger so does he."

"I'm going to put on the new bandages." Daisy warned him.

"We'll figure something out. Soon we'll have the Digidestined's help." She returned to her seat.

"We don't need their help."

"Yes, we do!" Rika yelled. "What's wrong with you? It took all of us to do anything to the D-Reaper there's no way we can handle this on our own."

Ryo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Every time Daisy touched it felt he was being stabbed.

"You're really a pain in my ass." She huffed. "I wouldn't reject help."

He smiled. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me. You use to try and do everything on your own once."

"I learned that you can't always do things on your own. And we don't have the strength on our own to do this."

"She's right you know. Even I don't like the thought of sending you guys out to save the world again, but you're not children anymore. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions, but sometimes you need help. What can hurt from letting the others help you?" Daisy asked while dressing his wounds.

"His pride." Rika snickered.

"Ha ha, very funny."

She finished with his wounds and stood up. "I know I'm just one of those people that helps you out from the computer, but I still think Rika's right."

"You should listen to me more often." A smile grew on Rika's face.

"Well I'll leave you two alone. He's been awake for a while, so I wouldn't be surprised if the narcotic kicks in soon." Daisy told Rika and took her leave.

"I do listen to you." Ryo spoke once the blond left.

"I know."

"I've been thinking about what you said to me." He was in so much pain.

"Stop moving you're only hurting yourself more." She touched him.

"I hate this so much!" He complained. "Look at you! You don't look like you fell to the bottom of a crevice."

"You were too weak for the data infusions." She told him. "They did what they did to save you."

"Am I still too weak for the data infusions? Or do I have to suffer like this until I die?"

"Stop it." She told him running her fingers down his cheek. "You're going to be alright."

He closed his eyes as he felt her fingers stroke his face.

"Even that hurts." He said to her.

"Sorry." She stopped.

"You don't have to…stop." He was searching her eyes.

She moved her hand into his hair and started playing with it.

"What do you want for us?" He asked.

"I want to be with you." She whispered. "I want to go back and undo everything that's happened since you came back."

"You were angry with me for leaving. It's understandable." He said.

"I don't blame you for my grandma's death." Her eyes were swelling up.

"I know." He whispered.

"So now what?" She asked.

He touched her face with his hand. "Do you think you can live with your life being in danger? You'll never know when your breath will be your last. I can promise you that Millenniummon will come after you, and what he'll do to you. I don't even know that."

"Hanging around you in general puts us all at risk without Millenniummon's help. You're reckless!" She laughed.

"I'm being serious."

"I know." She smiled. "If it means that I'll be with you I'll accept those conditions." She moved in to kiss him but stopped herself. "But you need to learn to trust us. Ryo, we're not the Digidestined. We've done nothing to make you feel like we've betrayed you."

"I know." He responded.

"Then stop alienating us." She spoke for all the Tamers.

"I'll try." He leaned forward and stole a kiss.

She playfully punched him on the side of the head. "You're an idiot."

"Thanks Pumpkin!" He laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>FINALLY! 9 chapters and a prologue later I got them together :D The next chapter is more fun, but I need to work on it. Note to self: Don't write when you're tired. Next chapter has a lot of Jeri being Jeri in it. FUN FUN FUN xD<strong>

**Does Henry still love Rika?** He loves her like a sister; however, he does resent the fact that she loved Ryo, but she couldn't love him. There's still some feeling there, but nothing like what he use to feel for her.

**Anyway, I know you guys didn't actually think I'd kill them off, but I thought it would be fun to play with the idea. But you never know what's going to happen in the future. So far the only way to get rid of Millenniummon is to kill Ryo as well.**

**Well I'm out! R & R**

**-Aninika (Ah-nih-nye-kah) or (An-ih-nye-kah)**


	11. Chapter 10

**This chapter starts off just like the original Chapter 10 did, but the content has changed. I made sure to hit all the same plot points in this chapter as the other one had. Just different situations happen. Chapter 11 is undergoing rewriting as of now. Also, here's an age update of everyone. **

**Tamers **

**Ryo- 20 ****Kazu and Rika- 19 Takato, Jeri, Kenta, Henry- 18 Alice-17 Suzie and Masahiko- 13 Ai and Mako- 10 **

**Digidestined**

**Joe- 23 Tai, Sora, Matt- 22 Mimi and Izzy- 21 Yolei, Ken, T.K., Kari, Davis- 19 Cody- 16 (Ugh stupid English and screwing up Yolei's and Ken's ages they're suppose to be a year older than T.K., Kari and Davis, but whatever go with it)**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 10::.~<p>

**J**eri shrieked as loud as she could. Rika just sat there blushing and growing aggravated from all the screaming.

"Please stop." She begged rubbing her forehead.

"I can't believe you two are together!" Jeri was so happy. "I knew it was going to happen!"

"And it sounds like your lungs were prepared for it too." Rika sighed. "Look it's really not a big deal."

"So have you two done anything?" Jeri knelt in front of Rika. Her eyes screamed for details.

"He's stuck in a bed." Rika stated. "He can barely move. What do you think we've done?"

"You could get really creative." Jeri smiled. "He doesn't have to always be on top!"

Rika blushed. "I don't need sex advice from you!" She beat Jeri with a pillow.

"Ok, ok stop!" She laughed pushing the pillow away. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't been thinking about him that way."

"What? No! We've only been dating since yesterday." Rika said.

"Seriously? You haven't been wondering what it will feel like when he shoves his hard dick into you?" Jeri wondered.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Rika's face was bright red. "I don't instantly think "do me" when I see someone I like! Why can't we just take it slow? I'll do him when I'm ready to do him!"

"So, do you think he's the one?" Jeri asked.

"The one for what?" Rika asked slyly.

"The one you're going to give your virginity to?" Jeri laughed.

"Am I even considered a virgin?" Rika asked.

"Until you've been penetrated by a penis you're a virgin, Sweetie." Jeri smiled.

The redhead groaned. "Anyway, I'm not going to fuck him while he's in this condition. He's already in enough pain."

"Maybe, he'll like it rough." Jeri giggled.

"I don't think anyone can tolerate being in that much pain and have pleasurable sex." Rika stated. "Plus who says I'm even going to do him? Stop trying to get me to fuck every guy I date!"

"Oh come on! I know it bothers you that Takato and I have had sex but you haven't." Jeri started thinking about all the things her and Takato had done together. If only Rika knew…

"I don't want to know what you do with him." Rika put it bluntly.

Since Rika's house was demolished by the earthquake Rika had been staying at Jeri's house. Jeri's parents wouldn't take no as answer from either Rika or her mom, so here she was. East Matsumoto was a long distance away from West Shinjuku, but Rika had promised Ryo that she'd try to visit him at least once a week. If not only for her to get away from Jeri for a day it was also so that Ryo wouldn't go slowly insane from talking to people who thought his body was just the most fascinating thing ever. Rika had to laugh when Ryo told her this. She told him that people treated her body the same way. He sighed and explained that the way people were looking at her was not nearly the same as they way the Monster Makers saw him. She already knew that though.

"Girls, dinner is ready." Mrs. Katou, Jeri's step mom, told them and left.

"Let me know when you two have sex I'll buy your first condom." Jeri snickered.

"And what if I don't want to use a condom?" Rika asked.

"Then I'll be there as you're pushing a baby out your vag."

"Thanks." Rika sighed.

* * *

><p>"Oh Takato is coming over tomorrow." Jeri announced while shoving food in her mouth.<p>

Rika just watched with disgust. Jeri who seemed so perfect and innocent was inhaling food like she hadn't eaten in over a year. It was gross and Jeri acted like it was nothing unnatural. Rika turned her head to Rumiko who was gently covering her mouth and staring at the table. Rumiko, who always held herself in such prim and proper ways, was about to run out of the room screaming. Rika then turned to the Katou's who had such a look of disappointment on their faces that it held them from saying anything. Masahiko, Jeri's younger half brother, was thoroughly enjoying this.

Rika looked down at her food. It suddenly seemed less appetizing.

"Slow down, Jeri!" Her stepmother scolded. She was obviously embarrassed.

Jeri put down her piece of chicken and looked at everyone in the room. Her face quickly flashed red when she saw the looks they were giving her.

"Hungry much?" Masahiko snickered.

"Oh shut up!" Jeri stood up, leaning over the table, and chucked her bone at her brother's head.

"OW!" Masahiko yelled. "Mom!"

"Jeri!"

"What?"

"Excuse me." Rika said as she took her leave from the table.

She didn't touch her food at all. She was sure that it was as appetizing as it looked, but even before Jeri started hogging down her food, Rika just wasn't in the mood to eat. It had been two days since she was released from the hospital, two days since she last saw Ryo, and over a week since they both went plummeting down that crevice. Her body ached from the pain. She looked liked a mess, like someone had taken her out back and beaten the living shit out of her, but she still looked better than Ryo did. Ryo… How could he be so foolish to think that he'd save her if he cushioned her fall? Out of all the stupid things he's done… She shook her head. Ryo was alive and that's all that mattered. So why did she feel like crying?

Rika went out into the Katou's yard and sat on the grass. The moon was full this night and the weather calm and warm. She looked up at the sky.

"Oh grandma…" She shed a single tear as she sat there longing for her embrace. She recalled so vividly the times when she would storm out of the house and sit on the walkway staring at the night sky. Her grandma would always follow her out and sit right down next to her and have Rika vent all her anger and pain. But now her grandma was gone, Ryo was badly hurt, and she was alone. The redhead had hoped that when she returned from the digital world that some of the loneliness would go away, but it lingered. Who would comfort her now?

She felt the ground vibrate below her. The tremors came and went numerous times throughout the day and they were felt everywhere. Sometimes they'd actually form into earthquakes, but for the most part they didn't. She was relieved when it was gone. She couldn't bear dealing with the thought of losing more people.

"Rika…" It was Rumiko making her way over to her daughter. "You shouldn't be sitting outside at this hour."

"I know…" The redhead plucked grass from the ground and threw it into the soft breeze. Did she really care that it was late out and that potential perverts were lurking around? No, she could careless. All she wanted was for Ryo to get better and for her grandma to come back from the dead. A zombie version of Seiko was much better than no Seiko at all. Even if that meant that Rika would have to sacrifice her brain for her grandma's sake. Then Ryo could have his zombie invasion.

Rumiko sat down next to her daughter and pulled her face to the blonde's chest in an embrace.

"You're not alone." Rumiko smiled. "I know we don't get along often, but I don't think you should have to deal with all this pain by yourself."

"I know…" She sighed. "I just wish I could've done something." Rika moved away from her mother.

"I do too."

"So we can do nothing, but face the reality that life sucks and then we die?" Rika blurted.

Rumiko nodded her head. "It's the sad truth." She understood her daughter's pain, but she decided to change the subject. "So what's this I hear about you having a boyfriend?"

"Who told you?"

"I hear things. So who is it? And whatever happened to that other guy you were dating? I only ever met him once, he had silver hair…"

"Kisuke?"

"Yes, him! How long did you two date for?" Rumiko's eyes peaked with interest.

Rika quietly sighed in disgust. "A year."

"And I only saw him once?" Rumiko asked.

Rumiko has this habit of stealing attractive men from other people. This includes men from her own daughter. Boyfriend number one had this happen to him. Rika was 14 when she started dating boyfriend number one, and he was 16. Boyfriend number one was attractive, about the same level as Kisuke, and Rumiko thought so too. During this time, some woman called Rumiko old and to prove that she wasn't she started dating younger men, much younger men. Rumiko teased the poor boy until he couldn't take it anymore and left Rika. Rumiko dumped him a day later. Rika got lucky with Henry, because Rumiko had no particular interest in the boy. It wasn't that she thought him unattractive, but she had known him since he was 12 and watched him age with her daughter. That was too weird for her. Boyfriend number three was a jock and very flirtatious, worse than Ryo. Rika constantly caught him cheating on her with other women, but still she stuck by him. One day she caught him, in the act, with her mother and that was the final straw. From there Rika moved on to Kisuke. She brought him home once, saw the interest peak in her mother, and refused to let her mother see him ever again.

"He was busy a lot." She lied.

"Well tell me about the new one."

Rika looked at her mother who had that look of a kid stuck in a candy shop that is so bewildered by everything that he just stands there gawking at nothing in particular.

"You've met him before." She said she didn't want to get any further into it than that. If Rumiko thought the other men that Rika dated were attractive then Ryo didn't stand a chance.

"That doesn't tell me much."

"Akiyama, Ryo. He's the eldest member of the Tamers. He came to my birthday party."

Rumiko tapped her finger on her lip and thought really hard about it. "I don't remember him."

_Good!_

"Well you'll just have to bring him over when he gets better. The Katou's told me that he saved your life." Rumiko remarked.

"Yeah…sure." Rika adverted her eyes.

Rumiko got up and headed into the house.

"Oh thank God!" She sighed. So much for her mother being worried that she was out late. She didn't think that she'd ever be able to have mother-daughter time with Rumiko.

She took out her new cell phone, searched through her contacts. When she found the number she was looking for she put the phone to her ear and waited as it rang.

"Hello…?" A groggy voice answered.

"Hey." He must've just woke up.

"Only you would bother me at midnight." Ryo turned to look at the time. "What's up?"

Had she really been outside for so long? It seemed like she just got out there.

"Nothing."

"Then why did you call me?" He rubbed his eyes. Finally he had managed to get some sleep on his own and she had to wake him. He wasn't sure if he should be angry or not.

"I don't know…"

"Fascinating." He joked. "Where are you?"

"At Jeri's." She responded flatly.

"Ok…" He closed his eyes. He wondered if he should tell her that he was really tired and that he wanted to go back to sleep. Or if he should try talking to her and see what was really up. He figured that he'd just try to talk to her. "Shibumi told me that some of the Monster Makers no longer want to work on me."

"What?" She was surprised to hear that. They couldn't stop working on him!

"It seems as though they believe that by making me get better they'll be helping Millenniummon get stronger." He was tired.

"It's true isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Ryo…" She lay down in the grass. "How do you know its Millenniummon?"

"Didn't I explain it earlier?" He thought he had.

"No, you didn't you just told us how you knew Millenniummon." She stared at the stars. How long had it been since she last did this?

"…When I was still in the digital world I saw an image of Millenniummon flash before my eyes. It was brief, but I know what I saw." He yawned.

"That's what makes you think its him?" She scoffed. "I need more solid proof than that."

"It's him I know it. Plus, no one else could be causing this much mayhem." He wasn't sure if he was being reassuring or not.

"You're an idiot." She chuckled.

"So you keep telling me, but you're the one who's dating me."

"I can change that!"

"Don't joke about that." He smiled. "I just got you."

"By the way you're not allowed to come over to my house." The ground was comfier than she initially thought. She was starting to doze off.

"Embarrassed?" He wondered half asleep himself.

"Not in the least." She sat up. "I'll tell you some other time."

"Sounds good to me…"

"Tired?" She chuckled. He sounded exhausted.

He just grunted in response.

"Want me to let you go?"

At this point he was too tired to hold the phone so it was resting on the pillow right next to his head.

"What did you call me for?" He'd feel bad if he had her hang up, but didn't know the reason for her calling.

"Nothing…"

"Sticking with that?"

"Yeah…"

He drew a deep breath. "Alright, then I'm going to get some sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Yeah, good night." She clicked off the phone and continued to sit in the grass for a bit. She should have just told Ryo that she needed to talk with someone about anything. Who else was she to call? She didn't care that she had nothing to say she just wanted to talk. Perhaps she'd tell him next time.

* * *

><p>Jeri woke Rika up bright and early. No one was in the house except for the two girls. Rika sat at the kitchen bar counter top as Jeri washed the dishes.<p>

"Sorry for yesterday." The brunette blushed slightly.

"Whatever." Rika wondered why Jeri had got her up so early.

"I was stressed." Jeri started drying the dishes and placed them in the rack. "I just started my period you see and Takato is coming over soon and I really just…URG!"

Rika thought that over eating was a very strange way to act when a person got on their period, but she seen stranger. Rumiko would go on a clothes shopping binge because she gain that one pound of water weight and none of her clothes would fit her correctly. They had one entire room filled with clothes just for when Rumiko was on her period.

Henry told Rika that Alice would throw a tantrum the entire time. It was a non-stop Alice anger fest. He would avoid her the entire time.

Suzie, who had more recently started, created a binder full of men ranked in order of whom she thought was sexy at that time. Every month the binder's order changed and got new pictures added.

Rika, on the other hand, didn't think that she did anything weird. She'd spend at least one of the days in her bedroom complaining of cramps because she was too stupid to use birth control like the others. In her defense, she thought the side effects were too risky and she wasn't sexually active, so she didn't see the need for it. The rest of the days she'd spend doing whatever it was that she did.

"You're going to get fat if you eat like that once a month." Rika told Jeri.

The brunette sighed. "I know! And last night was the first time I did that in front of my family. I could die!"

Rika was not amused by the melodrama Jeri was creating. The doorbell rang and Rika used that as her excuse to get away. She opened the door to see the other brunette that annoyed her.

"Goggle-head." She groaned holding the door slightly open.

"Yeah?"

"It's 8am."

"Yes it is."

"What the fuck are you doing here at 8am?" Rika asked ever so rudely.

Guilmon pushed the door all the way open nearly dislocating Rika's arm from her shoulder.

"I smell something yummy!" Guilmon sniffed around.

"There's French toast on the counter." She rolled her eyes as the red dinosaur made his way to the kitchen. She turned to the brunette. "Your girl is PMSing."

"Great…" He sighed making his way into the house.

They wandered over to the kitchen where Jeri had miraculously set the table and served everyone a plate.

"Think this will be enough for you, Jeri?" Rika snorted.

This was received by an elbow to the side.

"Ixnay in front of the oyfriend-bay." Jeri growled.

Rika held her side. "A little warning next time!"

"So you and Ryo are an item?" Takato asked cutting into the French toast.

"Jeri!" Rika shouted. "Who have you told?" She came at her with a butter knife.

The female brunette chuckled. "Oh come on, Rika, are you going to keep it a secret?"

Rika slammed the butter knife on the table. "Maybe Ryo or I would like to tell everyone."

"Ok, ok sorry!" Jeri smirked.

Takato chuckled as he took a bite of his food.

"Oh don't even start, Goggle-head!" She warned.

"What? You and Ryo have been hitting on each other since you guys met up again in the digital world over six years ago. It's about time you guys got together."

Rika sat down. "We've had our reasons."

"Yeah you're too stubborn and Ryo's always been involved with making sure that he stays out of the picture." Jeri started eating. "So who were you calling last night?"

"Who do you think?" Rika was now annoyed.

"How cute." Jeri smiled.

Rika's phone started going off. She looked at it and walked out of the room.

"Ryo?"

"I got more news on the D-Reaper."

"Well good morning to you too." She sighed walking towards the door. Why was everyone up so fucking early?

"So when am I going to see you?" He was obviously flirting with her.

She placed a hand on her hip as she wandered outside. "How 'bout you tell me what you have to tell me first."

"I like a girl that knows what she want."

"Yeah, pain in my ass, you going to tell me or should I hang up on you?"

"Oh demanding even better."

"Goodbye, Ryo!" She pulled her phone away from her ear.

"No, wait!" She heard him shout.

She put him on speaker. "You've got 30 seconds to spew out information before I hang up on you."

"You'd make a good dominatrix!" He laughed.

"20 seconds."

"Fine." He chuckled. "You're so mean, Pumpkin."

"Aw how cute!" Jeri squealed. Both her and Takato were spying on Rika.

"Go away!" Rika ordered.

"He said he has to say something about the D-Reaper!" Takato stated.

"Can we stay, Rika? Pretty please?" Jeri begged.

"Yeah, can they stay? Pretty please, Rika?" Ryo mocked.

"Oh shut up you!" She hissed.

"Out with the information, Ryo!" Takato casually walked over to Rika who just shot him a dirty glare.

"Alright, so the D-Reaper hasn't actually returned yet. What we saw in the digital world was actually like a warning sign that the D-Reaper is developing at a rapid rate, but the being as a whole doesn't yet exist."

"What does that mean for us?" Takato asked.

"For now it means that we don't have anything to worry about. Our major focus should be on surviving these tremors and earthquakes." Ryo forced himself to sit in his bed. Curly was changing his bandages.

"Sounds like a good plan." Takato remarked. He looked over at Rika. She was gripping onto her cell phone so hard that her fingers were turning white. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"That's all."

"We're out, Rika." Jeri tugged on her shirt. "We'll be in the house."

Rika nodded and took Ryo off speakerphone.

"Ryo?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be down to see you sometime tomorrow."

"Sounds good. By the way…"

"Yeah?" She leaned against the wall.

"Please be careful. If anything were to happen to you…"

"Don't worry about me." She said trying to assure him that she'd be fine. However, even she couldn't believe it. With what had happened to her grandma she found it hard to believe that anyone would survive this.

"I'll try." He said to her. "I'm not trying to be over protective. It's just that you're pretty thick headed."

"And you're not?" She scoffed.

"I'm stubborn." He laughed. "And reckless."

"And a killjoy." She added.

"Hey!"

Rika just laughed. "Look, I'm sorry about calling you so late last night."

Ryo watched as Curly walked out of the room. "Don't worry about it. But what was up?"

Ryo didn't actually have a cell phone of his own. Yamaki decided that it would be best if he made it so that Ryo had his own line to get in contact with the others if they needed to get to him.

"…"

He sighed. "If you need to talk to me about anything I'm here."

"I know." She responded. "Just get better soon."

"I'm trying."

"Well I've got to go."

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Maybe we can celebrate your birthday since it didn't go that well."

"…sure."

* * *

><p><strong>Ah la la I'm trying to patch up plot holes can't you tell? lol I put in more of how Seiko's death is affecting Rika, and how she can't really talk with Ryo about it yet. She's still trying to learn to let him in. She's trying though :D <strong>

**Did you get the Zombie joke? Ah, I put that in because Rika in an earlier chapter tells Ryo that the only way to make their mission to beat Millenniummon even more impossible is to add a Zombie Apocalypse. I'm lame I know...**

**I've added two more Digidestined in the next Chapter, but it's far from being completed. Also, I'm trying to put in what the Tamers are doing outside of fighting, because that's not all they do. Plus, there's nothing to fight ATM. **

**And yay awkwardness! xD**

**Also, to answer a question that I got from chapter 13: No, Rika's not going to be pregnant. I've been playing with the idea for a while, but making her pregnant makes my job SO much harder. **

**Well I'm out! C'ya when I finish Chapter 11 and make sure there's no plot holes :D**

**-Aninika**


	12. Chapter 11

**Yeah, because I deleted the old chapters and it didn't take down the reviews, so if you reviewed on an account you cannot review on the same chapter twice. You'll have to do an anonymous review, which is lame! Other than that I forgot to mention that Willis is the same age as T.K. and Kari and the others.**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 11::.~<p>

"**A**re you seriously doing wheelies in a wheelchair?" Rika groaned. She turned to the auburn couple standing by the door of the room. "Is there like a place I can go to exchange him?"

"Boyfriends aren't returnable or exchangeable." Jeri snickered. Even Takato couldn't help but laugh.

Ryo rolled over to them.

"You're right." She turned to Ryo. "We're through!"

Ryo gave her a big grin. "You wish you could get rid of me that easily."

She pushed the chair back down. "Stop that!"

"Come on, Pumpkin. I need to workout somehow! Do you want me to get fat?" He put on a cute pouty face.

"I just don't want you dead is all." She turned her head away. "I could care less if you were fat."

"You've never dated a fat guy!" Jeri mentioned. "In fact all the men you've dated have been incredibly attractive."

"Oh really?" Ryo turned his chair around. "Who's the most attractive guy you've ever dated?"

"I'm not answering that." She told him.

"Come on, Rika!" Takato laughed.

"I'd say it's Ryo." Jeri raised a finger. "Most definitely."

Takato thought about it for a bit. "Yeah, I'd have to go with Ryo as well."

Ryo showed her his trademark smile. "So it's me?"

"Now look what you've done! You let the ego go straight to his head." The redhead placed her hands in her boyfriend's hair and messed it all up. She smiled when she finished. "I think it looks better this way."

Ryo's hands instantly went into his own hair trying to fix it. "No way!"

Regardless of anything that Rika said about Ryo's hair he did not wake up that way. No, in fact it was Takato who openly admitted that he just wakes up with his hair that way. Ryo actually took the time to make his hair look the way he wanted. He also didn't like it very much when Rika poked fun at his hair, but it was something he figured that he was going to have to deal with since she didn't like his nicknames for her, but she was going to have to live with that as well.

"So are we going to lunch or what?" Takato wondered.

"We just have two more people to pick up and we'll be on our way." Rika said.

* * *

><p>Ryo sat there glaring at the man sitting besides him. The figure was eating French fries and openly teasing Ryo with them. Ryo's food still hadn't arrived.<p>

"Mm these fries are just SO good." He shoved five of them in his mouth, acting like he was getting an orgasm from the sheer enjoyment of eating.

"Why did you invite him?" Ryo asked looking at Rika who was getting pure amusement from the situation.

He didn't even know why he bothered asking her anything. When they arrived at the restaurant Rika told the waiter that Ryo had a drug and alcohol problem and that one night he got stoned and hammered at the same time and fell down 20 flights of stairs. Ryo blatantly rejected everything she said, but Rika insisted that the story was true and that if Ryo couldn't openly admit that he had a problem they were going to send him back to rehab. Everyone had a good laugh about it except for Ryo.

"To piss you off." She responded.

"Are you just trying to piss me off today?" Ryo asked looking at Tai who was continuing to tease him.

"She wants to see how good the make up sex will be!" Jeri chuckled.

Both Ryo and Rika's faces turned bright red.

"No, I don't!" Rika defended. "Jeri shut it!"

"See? She's trying to deny it!"

"I thought I told you to stop trying to get Ryo and I to have sex!" Rika's face was so red from anger and embarrassment.

"Wait she's trying to get us to have sex?" Ryo laughed. "Why aren't you listening to her?" He was, of course, joking but Rika didn't see it that way.

She grabbed the ketchup bottle and threw it at Ryo's head, but he dodged it and it ended up exploding on another, empty, table.

"Eh you wouldn't want this guy anyway he's fat!" Tai joked poking at Ryo's side.

Ryo swatted his hand away. "I'm not fat!"

"What's so wrong about fucking Ryo?" Jeri asked. "He's hot."

"I'd do Ryo." Takato said to Rika.

"I'd do Ryo too." Tai added. "Even if he is fat."

"Well if Tai will do him. I'll do him too." Izzy joined in.

"Let me join! We can have a five way!" Jeri giggled.

Ryo leaned back in his wheelchair, placed his arms behind his head and smiled casually. "There's plenty of me to go around."

This made Rika even angrier. "Stay out of my sex life!"

"You mean your lack thereof sex life." Jeri made sure to remind Rika.

Rika stood up and slammed her hands on the table. She was shaking with fury.

"Calm down." Ryo said. "We're just kidding."

"Fuck you!" She shouted as she stormed away from the table.

They all got quiet.

Jeri turned to Ryo. "I'm sorry. I guess we went too far."

"I'll talk to her later." He said. When Rika got like this he knew it was best just to leave her alone.

"Hey Tai." Izzy tugged on Tai's shirt while drinking his soda.

"Yeah?" Tai turned to him.

Izzy's focus was on the window. "Is that Mimi and Sora?"

Tai turned his head to see where Izzy was looking. He stood up.

"That is Mimi and Sora!" He was all giddy like a kid who hasn't seen their best friend in a day. He ran out of the restaurant.

"Shall we?" Izzy asked already standing up.

"But I haven't got my food yet." Ryo whined staring at all the food the others had eaten.

Jeri placed money on the table. "We'll pick you up something. They're taking too long anyway."

* * *

><p>"Sora! Mimi!" Tai shouted running right into traffic and making his way over to the other side of the street. Cars were blaring their horns at him. The others patiently waited for a clearing.<p>

"That was pretty reckless, Tai." Sora scolded.

"It is Tai we're talking about after all." Mimi mentioned she then looked at Tai. "My God, you need a hair cut!"

Tai's enthusiasm turned to sheer disappointment. "Hi Mimi…"

Sora gained Tai's attention. "We made our way over here, because Gennai told us about what was going on. He said to meet you guys in West Shinjuku."

"So it's just you two?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, the others haven't crossed yet." Sora watched as the group of people Tai was with made their way across the road. "Izzy?"

"Hi Sora!" Izzy waved as he approached the other Digidestined.

"I'm so glad you guys are here!" Mimi cheered. "For some reason my credit card doesn't work and I'm sick of walking! So much for Visa being accepted everywhere!"

Mimi failed to understand that because she doesn't exist in this universe that her card also didn't exist.

"Same old Mimi." Tai groaned. Izzy joined in.

Sora gave a dry laugh. She looked at the other members as they approached. She walked over to Ryo and examined him.

"You look very familiar." Sora knew him, but couldn't place his face with a name. "Have we met?"

"It's me, Ryo." He said to her.

"Ryo?" Sora was surprised. "How did you get in a wheelchair?"

"It's temporary." He assured her.

"Well it's good to see you after all these years! Where have you been?" She wondered giving him a hug.

Mimi pushed Tai aside and then butted Sora out of the way. "Ryo!" She squealed as she grabbed him in a tight embrace. "I knew I'd see you again someday!"

"I can't breathe, Mimi!" She released him. "It's nice to see you too."

"Oh so I like how you all just leave me in the restaurant!" Rika yelled angrily approaching the group.

"Rika…" Ryo turned to her.

"And you!" She was talking to Mimi. "Stay off of my boyfriend!"

"Rika relax!" Ryo ordered.

"Shut up!" Rika yelled back. "Some fucking birthday party this was!"

"Hey, it's not my fault! Maybe you shouldn't make fun of people and then maybe we wouldn't make fun of you!" Ryo snapped.

"It doesn't give you guys the right to poke fun at my sex life! I'll do what I want with my body!" She argued.

"I'm sorry we pissed you off." He said to her. "We weren't trying to make you angry, and I'm sorry we ruined your birthday celebration."

She sighed, she couldn't stay angry with him in his current condition. "Did you get something to eat?"

He shook his head.

"Are they seriously dating?" Mimi asked. She'd never seen a couple act like that.

"Don't worry about them." Takato walked over. "They like to argue a lot."

"I'm sorry but we haven't met. I'm Takenouchi, Sora." She held out her hand.

Takato took it. "I'm Matsuki, Takato and this is my girlfriend Katou, Jeri." He turned to Mimi. "You must be Tachikawa, Mimi."

"How did you know?" Mimi was bewildered.

"Our dimension is a television show for them!" Tai announced. "It's awesome, but creepy at the same time. Seriously, these kids know a lot about us!"

"Well thank God you guys are around. I really need someone to carry my stuff." Mimi tossed her jacket and things on Izzy and Tai.

Both Mimi and Sora were dressed for winter, because that's what time of year it was over in their dimension. Gennai had mentioned to them that the seasons were changed, but how were they supposed to prepare? Whatever the case, Mimi was just happy to get rid of that jacket.

"By the way." Sora interrupted. "Could you take us to Hypnos?"

* * *

><p>Takato and Jeri led the way to Yamaki's lab. The Digidestined were following directly behind them and Rika was pushing Ryo in his chair. They passed an open room emitting a mysterious orange light. Ryo stopped the chair and Rika walked right into it.<p>

"What was that for?" She growled still in an unpleasant mood.

"Is this the place where Yamaki is keeping Monodramon?" He wondered.

"Yeah, but we're not supposed to go in there." She mentioned, but Ryo ignored her, wheeling himself into the room. She followed close behind.

He wheeled himself across the bridge and then over to where Monodramon stayed dormant. He pressed his hand against the glass as Rika wandered over.

She didn't like the feel of the room. It felt cold and lifeless. The room, to her, screamed death and decay.

"We should leave, Ryo." She walked over to him. He was staring intently at his partner.

The others headed in as well when they couldn't find the duo. They made their way over to them.

"Ugh!" Mimi groaned disgusted. "Orange is such a horrible color!"

"Ryo, what are you doing?" Izzy asked looking at the brunette.

Ryo took his hand off the glass and turned to Izzy. "Help me get him out of here."

"That's a bad idea. I was running my own diagnostics earlier and there's definitely something strange going on inside him. I don't think we can trust him." The redhead didn't want to argue with his friend, but what was he supposed to do? Letting Monodramon go was a horrible idea. "Maybe you should let Yamaki separate the two beings."

"Shut up!" Ryo shouted as he pounded his fist on the glass. "I'll get him out myself!" He wheeled over to one of the desktops and started going through files.

"Stop!" Izzy snagged one of Ryo's arms. "Rika!"

Rika ran over and pulled Ryo away from the computer. "What is wrong with you? I know that this is a stupid idea, but Monodramon is better off in there! Wouldn't you like to get rid of Millenniummon before he returns?"

"You don't understand!" Ryo yelled.

"I do!" She shouted back. "We'd all do anything for our partners, but we'd also do everything it took to take them down as well if they were a threat. Look at what happened to Impmon! Or when Takato angrily digivolved Guilmon!"

"She's right you know." Yamaki said as he made his way, casually, across the bridge. "Millenniummon has him in his grasps already. You weren't conscious when he lost control and started attacking everything. We had no choice but to lock him up. Even with your power to control him I doubt it would be enough."

"I'm the one he wants." Ryo reminded them. "I'll make sure that he never resurfaces on my own!"

Yamaki stood beside him. "And what about Rika? What about the others? Are you going to keep them all safe if he shows up again? And how? Your partner will be gone from you."

"Stop it!" Rika yelled at Yamaki. "He's got other things to worry about. You don't need to stress him out anymore!"

"And if I don't remind him of what will happen he could very well set free the beast that will kill you all!" He snapped at Rika.

"Leave her alone." Ryo said. "Just let Monodramon go."

"Do you really think that's the best idea?" Tai wondered. "You are the expert on handling Millenniummon, but this isn't like before. Didn't you say that you couldn't beat ZeedMillenniummon?"

Ryo shot his eyes over to Yamaki. "Let him go." The brunette clenched his D-arc contemplating on what to do next. Either Yamaki was going to release his partner or Ryo was going to force him out of there.

Rika looked at her boyfriend. She wondered what it was that he could be planning. Whatever it was she was sure as hell that she wasn't going to be able to change his mind. She just hoped that whatever he planned it was for the right reasons.

Yamaki gave in. "I'll let him go on one condition. Let me run diagnostics on him as Cyberdramon."

"Why?"

"Please."

"It can't hurt." Izzy remarked.

"Wait?" Mimi shrieked. "That little thing is Millenniummon?"

They all turned to her.

"Mimi, weren't you listening when Gennai explained the situation?" Sora asked not really surprised, but more disappointed than anything.

"I was just excited to see Ryo again!" She was in her own little world.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but please tell me you have some other reason for this besides just wanting him out of there." Rika knelt beside the brunette.

He placed his hand on her cheek. "He's no more a threat in there than he is out here. Plus, he can't digivolve without my help and I lost Millenniummon's card long ago."

"Yamaki did say that he started to lose control. What if-?" Ryo silenced her.

"I'm use to dealing with an out of control Digimon." He reminded her. "Don't worry."

"We're all set up for the diagnostic." Yamaki said.

Ryo nodded and took out his D-arc. He swiped his blue card and they all watched at the tiny purple dragon became engulfed in a purple light. His silhouette changed and revealed Cyberdramon. The cyber dragon's body nearly filled up his containment. His wings were bent around the glass.

"Scanning." Izzy said. He was sitting on the ground with his own feed patched into Cyberdramon and was running the same diagnostic as Yamaki.

Mimi walked over to Rika. "So you're Ryo's girlfriend?"

Rika looked at the brunette. She instantly thought that she was an airhead. "Yes."

"Ryo, I'm jealous!" Mimi whined.

Ryo chuckled. "Sorry." Though he didn't really mean it. It did take him a few years to realize that Mimi wanted to be his girlfriend and that she wasn't just being weird. He felt bad for blowing her off, but he didn't think he'd survive very long as Mimi's boyfriend. Plus he had Rika, and that's all he ever wanted.

"Rika, do you want anything to drink?" Tai asked obviously bored.

She eyed the wild haired brunette before nodding her head. They turned to leave when Gennai popped up on Izzy's computer scaring the redhead half to death.

"Oh, sorry about that!" The elderly man chuckled. "I just thought you'd guys would like to have your Digimon patched over."

"Is Palmon there?" Mimi pushed down Izzy so she could see the screen better.

"Yes, all your Digimon are here."

"Mimi!" The plant Digimon called.

"Palmon!" The vivacious brunette yelled to her joyously. "Well why don't you send them over?"

"It seems Izzy's computer is using a lot of power." Gennai said.

Izzy pushed Mimi off of him. "Yeah, I'm running a diagnostic on Cyberdramon to try and get a clearer picture of what's going on inside him. Can I contact you after to get our Digimon?"

"Yes, of course. Do be careful what you do with Cyberdramon. He is half Millenniummon." Gennai informed.

"I am completely aware. But I'm not actually doing anything to him. I'm just trying to get a better picture of what's going on." The redhead started typing.

Tai and Rika were already half way across the bridge when Gennai appeared on the computer. They stopped and listened for a while.

"Do you still want something to drink?" Tai asked.

Rika nodded her head.

Sora ran over to them. "Take me with you!"

They both nodded.

"What is this?" They heard Izzy shout.

Ryo wheeled himself over and took at look at Izzy's computer. "Is that his digicore?"

Izzy nodded his head. "That's really strange."

"What's a digicore?" Yamaki didn't understand.

Izzy turned around. "I guess you can say a digicore functions like a heart or a brain. It holds the most important information, and if taken out of a Digimon it is deleted. Most Digimon only have one digicore. This is an exception to the Digimon Sovereign who each hold 12 digicores which keep the digital world in balance. But for some reason it seems that Cyberdramon has two digicores."

"This is odd because Monodramon only has one digicore, but Cyberdramon has two which isn't physically possible." Ryo added.

"Yes." Izzy stated. "There is no way that he should have two digicores."

"This is his only form that has that?" Yamaki asked.

"I would assume since this is the only form that ZeedMillenniummon affects." Ryo sighed. "How come I didn't know this earlier?"

"But did you notice this?" Izzy asked double clicking on the digicores and making them larger. "They're corrupted."

"What?" Ryo examined them. "This is strange."

"What is it?" Yamaki asked.

Mimi, Jeri and Takato stared at them blankly. They kind of understood.

"It seems that the digicores aren't influenced by just one Digimon each, but both." Izzy looked at Yamaki. "What is going on?"

"You wouldn't be able to separate Millenniummon and Cyberdramon if you wanted to." Ryo sighed again.

"But we could make one digicore just Monodramon's and the other just Millenniummon's right?" Yamaki looked at them.

Izzy placed a hand to his chin. "That would take a lot of work, but it might be possible."

"Whether you like it or not, Ryo, we're going to have to separate those two at some point if you want to get rid of him."

"And what do you think will happen?" Ryo asked. "Millenniummon will no longer be able to directly draw off my power, but I guarantee you that he will find a way."

Takato and Jeri looked at each other and then back to the others.

"Do you really think it's safe to let Cyberdramon free?" Takato wondered.

"Yeah." Ryo turned to him. "Like I said, he can't digivolve without my help and I lost the card a long time ago."

"Well that's good right?" Jeri asked. "I mean without the threat of Millenniummon we only have to worry about the dimensions combining and the D-Reaper returning."

"If you want to think of that as a positive then go for it." Ryo said to her. He knew that Millenniummon had to have known that Ryo lost the card a long time ago. So why was his plan still in action if he knew he wouldn't be able to come back? Ryo knew he was up to something.

Rika looked over at Tai and Sora who were relieved to hear that. Her D-arc started going off. She unhooked it from her belt and watched as a compass appeared. Renamon materialized behind the redhead.

"It can't find it." She looked at her partner.

"It's a strong one." Renamon said.

Takato and Ryo had both pulled out their D-arcs as well and were doing the same thing as Rika.

"Something is coming!" Renamon shouted and no sooner did a Digimon burst in through the wall above the entrance. She went after it aiming her fist at its face, but it swiftly knocked her away with its long tail.

"Release him!" Ryo ordered Yamaki as he tried to get out of his wheelchair.

The others dove out of the way as the Digimon landed on the platform next to Cyberdramon's containment.

"Here let me help you!" He laughed breaking the glass and pulling Cyberdramon out by his neck.

The red Digimon, with large wings, tail came crashing down on the bridge that Tai, Rika and Sora were on, causing it to break. The three latched onto the bridge to the best of their abilities trying not to fall in the liquid below.

Guilmon came chasing after the newly emerged Digimon. He stopped when he reached the broken bridge.

"Tai, I'm slipping!" Sora struggled to hold on.

Tai looked down at her and tried his hardest to grab her hand.

"Grab my hand!"

"I can't!"

"You've got to try!" Tai told her.

"Takato!" Guilmon shouted gaining his tamer's attention.

Takato grabbed Jeri's hand and pulled her further away from the Digimon before pulling out his blue card to digivolve Guilmon.

"Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

"Guilmon matrix digivolve to WarGrowlmon!"

Rika slid further down on the bridge to try and grab Sora's hand. There was a pretty large gap between where she was holding onto the railing and where Tai and Sora were. She pulled off her belt and used it as a sort of rope to get to Tai.

"Grab it!" She ordered.

"Rika, there is no way you can pull me up!" Tai told her. He was still trying to get to Sora.

Rika forgot to detach her cardholder and all the cards went plummeting into the liquid below, instantly dissolving. She watched what happened and then turned her attention to the other two.

"Don't let the liquid touch you!" She yelled.

"WarGrowlmon, grab Tai and the others!" Takato shouted to him.

The big red dinosaur nodded. He flew over to them and scooped them up bringing them back over to the entrance. He then went over to Takato and returned to Guilmon.

Takato swiped his blue card, again, as the two partners became engulfed in an orange light merging to become Gallantmon.

The new Digimon was still holding Cyberdramon by his neck. Ryo and Izzy stood nearby just watching the Digimon. Izzy was helping Ryo stand on his feet.

Rika ran over to her partner who was out cold on the ground and shook her.

"Renamon you have to get up." The vixen did not respond.

The redhead took out her D-arc and pointed it at the new Digimon hoping to get some information on him.

The Digimon looked over at the two men standing next to him. "My name is Examon! I serve Millenniummon along with all the other Royal Knights." Examon, like Gallantmon, was one of the Royal Knight Digimon. Each of his wings were two times larger than the red dragon Digimon. He held a rod that looked like a silver version of Gallantmon's sword with four prongs at the end. His wings were made of solid Chrome Digizoid, the strongest of the digital metals.

Gallantmon lunged at Examon causing him to drop Cyberdramon to the ground. Ryo and Izzy ran over to him as Gallantmon and Examon duked it out.

"You dare defy your destiny, Gallantmon?" Examon asked as the two enraged in a sword fight. "You are a Royal Knight!"

"I don't care what I am!" Gallantmon shouted. "Millenniummon is nothing but pure evil and he will stop at nothing to destroy the worlds. Why are you so bent on helping him? He'll only kill you in the end."

Examon laughed. "He has called upon us to serve him! Don't you see? Millenniummon will destroy the worlds, but then he will build us a better one!"

"What a twisted mindset you have." Ryo chuckled. "He isn't good on any of his promises."

He swung his lance at Ryo knocking him to the ground and reopening the gash along his back. "You would know, human of the master!"

Gallantmon charged at Examon. Examon retaliated by knocking Gallantmon into the mysterious liquid.

"Takato!" Jeri screamed.

Examon walked over to Ryo and picked him up by the neck with his tail. The Royal Knight chuckled as Ryo pulled at his tail trying to free himself. Blood poured from his back.

"Do you think that the master won't return because you are missing his foolish card? He has already accounted for that."

Ryo glared at the Royal Knight.

"I'd love to strangle the very life from you right now, but then the master would be gone as well. It's so sad that someone as powerful as him has a weakness such as you!" Examon dropped him on the ground.

Gallantmon escaped from the liquid his data horribly damaged, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying to kill Examon.

"Don't you know when to die?" Examon roared as Gallantmon stabbed him with his lance.

"No, I don't but you do!" Gallantmon screamed. "Lightning Joust!"

Examon burst into data that was consumed by Gallantmon.

Izzy was attending to the unconscious Ryo. Renamon woke up and brought Rika over to him.

"Ryo…" She touched him and looked at the bloodstain on his shirt. She gasped. "He's bleeding!"

How could he be bleeding?

* * *

><p><strong>So I had the computer read me my story so far last night and it was mildly amusing. The computer made me realize that apparently I'm a bit retarded and like to write 'in' other than 'if' or 'is' or whatever and vise versa. Also I have a lot of random 'the's everywhere. I've spelt Tai wrong at least two times. And my computer says Sora like Sore-AAAAAAAAH, it's mildly amusing. <strong>

**Other names it messes up are:**

**Ryo it says Rye-OH**

**Rika (only when in quotations) it says Rye-KAH**

**Kazu (sometimes) is says Kay-ZOO**

**Takato it says Ta-kay-toe**

**Rumiko it says Rue-my-koh**

**Renamon it says Ree-nah-man**

**Kisuke (which is pronounced Key-skay) it says Key-sook**

**Seiko is Say-EE-ko (which would be correct if it didn't say it exactly like that)**

**I can't really remember any more because it messes a lot of things up, but those were the ones that it messes up that also annoy me. So, needless to say, I had a lot of editing to do last night. Now, I've fixed a lot of things, but the story still needs more things fixed MOAR lol. **

**Peace!**

**-Aninika **


	13. Chapter 12

**Another short Chapter. I was really excited to write this one, because I love battle scenes whether I'm good at writing them or not :D Also, I realized that new people reading this story who weren't around when the original chapters were posted might be confused. I originally had chapter 10-13 finished, but decided that I didn't like how certain things were going, so I took them down, and now I'm reposting new versions of them. Yay, explanation!**

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><p>~.::Chapter 12::.~<p>

"**I**'m going to send your Digimon over now." Gennai informed Izzy who was sitting in front of his laptop not far from Ryo.

Everyone in the room still remained divided by the gap. Sora and Tai were over by the entrance. The bridge had long dissolved in the mysterious liquid. Jeri was on the other side of the platform that they were on attending to Takato who had a few scrapes. Guilmon was sleeping. Yamaki was talking with them. Mimi was sitting at one of the chairs by the desktops looking bored. Rika and Renamon were attending to Ryo who was still unconscious. Cyberdramon was next to Ryo, also unconscious.

Izzy pulled out his digivice and opened the digiport for the Digimon to come through. He moved out of the way as Tentomon, Palmon, Agumon and Biyomon passed through.

"Izzy!" Tentomon flew over to his partner.

"It's good to see you Tentomon!" The redhead smiled.

"Biyomon!" Sora shouted calling to her and waving her arm.

"Sora!" Biyomon flew over to her.

"Tai!"

"Agumon you're just going to have to stay over there for a bit!" Tai shouted back to him.

"Ok!"

"Mimi!" Palmon ran over to the bored looking girl.

"Oh Palmon!" The brunette hugged her.

"Izzy, I just want to let you that because you aren't in this dimension you'll be able to digivolve your Digimon past champion." Gennai spoke.

"Well that's good new!" Izzy smiled happily reunited with his partner.

"Ryo…" Rika whispered as she played with his hair. She had moved him so that his head was resting on her lap.

Ryo slightly opened his eyes, directed them to see Rika, and smiled.

"Sorry." He said to her.

His veins protruded from his body suddenly as Ryo let out a painful groan. Cyberdramon pushed himself up from the ground and turned his attention to Rika.

"Cyber Nails!"

Rika's eyes widened, but she couldn't pull herself to do anything. Ryo forced himself up and covered her with his body. Cyberdramon's attack struck Ryo on the back causing him to scream in pain. His blood splattered everywhere and dripped from his back. Ryo coughed up some blood landing on Rika.

"Ryo!"

He had one eye closed, but managed to smile. Blood ran down the side of his mouth. "I'm ok."

Cyberdramon let out a loud roar. Ryo held Rika tighter.

"Don't move." He told her.

"Tentomon!" Izzy shouted.

"Super Shocker!" The attack did nothing to the metal dragon. "Well that was anti-climatic." The bug Digimon sighed.

Renamon lunged at Cyberdramon and they engaged in a fight.

"You need to stop her." Ryo coughed. "She's no match for him."

To that Rika smirked. "You'd be surprised. I've trained Renamon rather well."

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon grabbed a hold of one of Cyberdramon's arms. "Aren't we supposed to be a team?"

"He's not in control!" Guilmon yelled as he ran over. "Pyro Sphere!"

Cyberdramon broke free from Palmon's vines and Guilmon's attack didn't even faze him. Renamon landed a few punches on Cyberdramon who just became more infuriated with her.

"Ryo!" Cyberdramon chuckled. "You shouldn't get in my way!" He pounded Renamon into the wall until the vixen collapsed to the floor. He then turned his attention to Ryo and pulled him away from Rika.

"Stay away from her!" Ryo shouted as Cyberdramon moved closer to the redhead.

Guilmon, Palmon, Tentomon and Agumon teamed up to take on Cyberdramon. He very easily pressed passed them taking them all out.

"I said stop, Millenniummon!" Ryo yelled. He was in too much pain to try and move.

Cyberdramon gripped Rika in his claws holding her steadfast to the ground. He just chuckled. "Digivolve me, Ryo, or I'll kill her." He started squeezing her body as she let out a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream.

Takato grabbed a pipe that was next to him and lunged at Cyberdramon. The dragon knocked him away and into the computers. Jeri ran over to him.

Sora gripped her digivice. "Biyomon its time to digivolve!"

Tai grabbed Sora's arm. "No, you can't hurt Cyberdramon! If you try to do anything he'll kill Rika."

"We need to do something!" She yelled back.

"I know that!" Tai looked over at the others. He wanted more than anything to digivolve Agumon and take the bastard out.

"What's taking so long, Ryo?" Cyberdramon asked squeezing Rika tighter.

Ryo attempted to make himself stand. The brunette was covered in his own blood. He started moving towards the dragon, but stopped when he heard a loud snapping sound.

Rika was still screaming. He snapped one of the bones in her right arm.

Ryo, shaking in anger, pulled out his blue card and watched as it turned black before his eyes.

"Don't do it, Ryo!" Yamaki yelled.

"I won't let him kill her!" He gripped his D-arc. "I won't let Rika die!" He screamed as he swiped the card through his D-arc.

ZeedMillenniummon laughed maniacally as Cyberdramon became enshrouded in a black aura.

"Oh she'll die." He laughed as he approached Ryo. He grabbed his head and picked him up. "You're just going to be the one to kill her." He threw Ryo up against the wall.

Tai let go of Sora. "Ok now we can take him out."

Sora nodded her head. "Ready, Biyomon?"

"Ready!" The pink bird chirped. "Biyomon warp digivolve to Garudamon!"

The Garuda Digimon flew over to the other platform.

"Agumon warp digivolve to WarGreymon!"

"Tentomon warp digivolve to MegaKabuterimon!"

"Palmon warp digivolve to Lilymon!"

Takato managed to move his hand to grip his D-arc. "Guilmon!"

The red dinosaur got himself up.

"No, Takato, you're already injured enough!" Jeri hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Jeri, but we have to take him out before he finishes digivolving." He kissed her.

"Guilmon biomerge to Gallantmon!"

"You guys had better get that girl out of here before she gets squished." Lilymon said to Izzy and Mimi. Besides Gallantmon, Lilymon and WarGreymon the others were very large and to them Rika was very small.

Mimi and Izzy ran over to Rika and tried to move her. Jeri joined them.

"That hurts." Rika cried her right arm was really messed up.

"It's time to end this!" Gallantmon yelled running towards the aura enshrouded Digimon. WarGreymon joined him.

Izzy found a thin metal pipe about as thin as a pencil and decided to use it as a splint for Rika's arm. He handed the pipe to Mimi and then proceeded to take his shirt off and tear it up. He tied the pipe to Rika's arm.

"Let's get out of here." He said to the girls.

* * *

><p>Without even trying the black enshrouded Cyberdramon took out the two megas as well as the three ultimates. He blew a hole through the wall and entered a big emptied room. Beelzemon smashed in through another wall and pummeled Cyberdramon into the ground.<p>

Beelzemon cracked his neck and smirked. "I knew I was going to do something awesome today." He looked over and watched Izzy walk out with Rika who was using him as a crutch. Jeri and Mimi were walking close by. "What, no applause?"

Ryo followed them out and took Rika from Izzy and brought her over to the entrance. Tai and Sora came bolting into the room. Cyberdramon pushed himself back up.

"You should learn to stay down!" Beelzemon roared as he roundhouse punched Cyberdramon in the head sending him skidding across the room. Beelzemon pulled out his twin pistols and started firing at the dragon.

"You're ok!" Rika sounded so relieved. She was leaning against a wall.

"Yeah, I am." He smiled. "Are you?"

She looked at her arm. "I will be."

He pushed his lips against her. His hand on her face.

Tai looked over at the couple making out. "Does he really think that this is a good time for that?"

Sora giggled. "He was horrified that he was going to lose her. Knowing that she's ok must be such a relief."

"Still…" Tai looked over at the devil Digimon blasting away at Cyberdramon. "We're not in the clear yet."

Gallantmon walked through the hole in the wall. His shield had burst into data and his cape was torn to pieces. He collapsed to his knees.

"You look like shit!" Beelzemon laughed. "But don't worry I got him."

"Doubt it." Gallantmon told him flat out.

Beelzemon fired off two more shots before heading over to the knight. "Hey, do you doubt my power?"

"He just took out two megas and three ultimates without even trying. So sorry if I don't fucking believe that you took him out!" Gallantmon panted.

Beelzemon growled. "If I have I want a sincere apology. With a kiss and everything!" He walked over to the area where Cyberdramon was. "You had enough of me yet?" He asked as he stood within inches of Cyberdramon's enshrouded face.

The Digimon quickly jabbed his hand through Beelzemon's stomach. And threw him off to the side.

"Terra Destroyer!" The attack blast through a wall and took out the unsuspecting Digimon.

Rika felt Ryo move his hands to her shirt as he started undoing her buttons.

"Stop!" She told him. "What are you doing?"

But he wouldn't. With her one free arm she tried to push him away. Tears were streaming from his eyes, but he seemed to have no regret for what he was doing otherwise. He finished unbuttoning her shirt and placed his lips on her neck.

"Don't you want this?" He asked running his hand down her exposed torso.

"No!" She ordered as she continued to try and push him away. "Stop!" What was going on with him?

"But I want to see the wound I give you while you're dying!" He jammed his hand into her stomach and quickly pulled it out revealing the piece of shrapnel that he was holding.

Tai just happened to see Ryo stab Rika. He ran over to Ryo and punched him in the face knocking the twenty-year-old off balance. Ryo threw the shrapnel as he stared at Tai with a crazed look in his eyes.

Rika spewed blood as she fell to her knees. Sora ran over to her. Rika's body was starting to convulse.

"Tai!" Sora yelled.

"I'm a bit busy!" Tai shouted dodging punches from Ryo. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Ryo didn't say anything he just kept throwing punches at Tai.

"Someone, hurry!" Sora screamed as Rika's eyes started to roll in the back of her head.

Yamaki ran over and pulled off his jacket. He ripped it apart and tied it around Rika's waist.

"Come with me!" Yamaki said to Sora as he picked the girl up and carried her out of the room.

Tai's fist connected with Ryo's face knocking him straight to the ground. Tai knelt over him and pounded his face in over and over again. Mimi and Izzy ran over to pull Tai off from Ryo.

"Stop!" Mimi shouted.

"He's possessed!" Tai yelled. "He might have just killed Rika!"

"He's unconscious now." Izzy mentioned. "Come on they need help!" He was referring to the three Digimon fighting the soon to be Millenniummon.

Tai stood up and looked over at the fighting Digimon "Why hasn't he changed yet?" He wondered, but no one had an answer for him.

* * *

><p>Sora opened the one of the back doors on Yamaki's car. He placed the bleeding girl in the back seat. Sora got in the other back seat as Yamaki crawled into the driver's seat.<p>

"Let me know how she's doing." Yamaki told her. "I'm going to drive her to the hospital."

Sora nodded her head. She turned back to the redhead and hoped that she'd make it to the hospital.

They took off.

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><p>"Flower Cannon!" The attack did absolutely no damage. Sheer disappointment swept over Lilymon's face.<p>

That's how all the Digimon and their partners were feeling at that point. They were all exhausted, but the enshrouded Digimon was full of vivacity.

"He hasn't even changed yet and we can't land a scratch on him." Tai plopped himself down on the ground.

MegaKabuterimon was so drained that he couldn't even pick himself off the ground. Garudamon was leaned against a wall that she was thrown against struggling to move. Gallantmon and WarGreymon were flat out on the ground near Cyberdramon's feet. Lilymon was the only one still capable of moving, but she didn't have the strength to fly or do much of anything else for that matter.

"It's hopeless…" Jeri said feeling utter defeat. "If we can't harm him like this how are we supposed to take him out?"

Cyberdramon snickered. "You can't, because I know you won't kill Ryo and he's my only weakness."

The shroud blew away and revealed entwined duo dragons: one purple and one orange. Two green data bands surrounded the creature. He disappeared.

All the Digimon reverted back to their rookie forms.

"What now?" Takato asked. "What do we do now?"

* * *

><p>Sora sat in a chair anxiously waiting for someone to come out of the emergency room. Yamaki stood by the entrance on his cell talking with someone.<p>

"Make sure he doesn't leave the room when he wakes." Yamaki said to whomever he was talking to. "No, I don't want him to leave for any reason. There's a chance that he's still under his control and I can't risk what he'll do."

He paused for a bit. "We haven't heard anything about her yet. Did someone get in contact with her mother?"

Rumiko came running into the hospital. She ran right over to the desk frantically, but no one was there.

"Ms. Makino!" Yamaki called, hanging up his phone.

She ran over to him. "My daughter how is she?"

"We haven't heard anything."

Rumiko was crying. "What happened?"

"She got stabbed." Yamaki informed her.

A doctor came out and walked over to the three people. "Are any of you family?"

"I'm her mother. Why? Is she going to be ok?" Rumiko couldn't help but cry. She didn't want to lose another family member.

"She's in surgery right now. She's got some pretty extensive internal bleeding and she's lost a lot of a blood. We're going to have to remove her gall bladder, because it got pretty heavily damaged. It's a useless organ, so it's nothing to be concerned over. Right now it's up to the surgery team to patch her up and her sheer will to survive." He could see how upset she was it was nothing unnatural. "We'll let you know if anything changes." He left.

Rumiko pressed herself against Yamaki and sobbed.

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><p><strong>NO, I AM NOT HINTING A RUMIKOxYAMAKI SENARIO! Just wanted to clarify that. Also, Ryo was possessed the entire time he was over in the other room. I'll clarify this later, but I thought I'd mention it now. And Chapter 13 is not going to be the same as last chapter 13 with the sex scene. Sorry. <strong>

**Also, LiiMakino UPDATE YOUR STORY! xD haha just kidding! But seriously D:**

**Now to answer your questions: **

**Henry, Suzie, Ai and Mako aren't appearing much are they? **Alice isn't either (though she'll get her moment later on). I don't know, Henry has had his moments, but really I just tend to throw groups of people together and make them interact. There will be more Henry later on. I don't particularly have much interest in the younger Tamers, but Suzie is entertaining to me, so if I put her in its for my own amusement. (Mainly because I like making her a bit bitchy and boy crazy) I don't know enough about Ai and Mako to care about them at all, but they will make an appearance at some point. Kai and Minami will appear too.

**Are you going to use all the Royal Knights? **No, some of the Royal Knights are just variations of other Digimon (like I think there's Gallantmon X or something). They really just have a minor role anyway. They're just around as pawns, really.

**Is Ryo getting fat?** No, he's just been lying around for over a week, so he's starting to lose muscle mass (which happens when you're a lazy bum), but you can't tell. They're making fun of his condition really by calling him fat. This is why he keeps saying he's not fat, 'cuz he's really not.

**The stories you previewed on your profile, will you be posting them when you finish When Worlds Collide? **I'll be starting _Under Destruction of Hope_ once I finish this story. I don't want to work on any other stories while I'm writing this one, because I'll never finish any of them. It's kind of my list to write the stories in.

**Other than that I'm at 43,655 words :D (that's just to the end of Chapter 12) ALMOST TO 50,000! Huzzah! Well I guess I'll get started on Chapter 13.**

**I'm out! Peace!**

**-Aninika**


	14. Chapter 13

**Not much to say except 47,568 words, almost at 50,000! I'm actually going to write two more chapters before I put this story on hiatus. If not before, then new chapters will be posted early July. Also I start training for work next week :D**

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><p>~.::Chapter 13::.~<p>

**R**ika lie in her hospital bed staring at the curtains that covered the windows. She had no idea what time it was, what day it was or how long she had been in the hospital for. People continuously came in and out of her room, but she didn't see Ryo the entire time, and she didn't know if she even wanted to.

_Rika felt Ryo move his hands to her shirt as he started undoing her buttons. _

"_Stop!" She told him. "What are you doing?"_

She shuddered thinking about what had happened. The scene kept running through her head as though it was on an endless time loop and she hated it. She wanted it to stop.

There she lay with an I.V. in her left arm, because her right arm was in a full cast. She couldn't sit up, because every time she did her stitches would tear and she had to get new ones. The doctors had put a breathing tube in her nose and she was hooked up to all other types of machines.

Yamaki had come in at some point, she couldn't remember if it were that day or a day prior, her knowledge of time was virtually non existent, and informed her what was going on with Ryo. Ryo was staying at Yamaki's, again, but was constantly being monitored by Riley or Mitsuo himself. For the most part he was being contained in his room. Yamaki continued to tell her that Ryo was more than likely possessed shortly after he swiped the black card through his D-arc.

Rika wondered what she was going to do. Now, she wouldn't even be able to trust her boyfriend, the last person that she could confide herself in.

Tai and Sora entered the room. Rika didn't turn herself towards them instead she continued to stare at the curtains. She had been like this ever since she woke up in the ICU. Sora wandered right by Rika and opened the curtains revealing that it was daytime. The redhead squinted her amethyst eyes.

"How are you feeling today?" Tai asked. Though he didn't really know Rika at all he still felt like it was his responsibility to check on her once in a while. Sora had felt the same.

Rika didn't respond to him, but she did look at the man. He took a seat in a chair by the door as Sora wandered back over to the brunette.

"While you were in surgery the worlds finally merged. Thankfully they were closing you up while it happened, so you got through it ok. We'll be returning to Odaiba tomorrow to meet with the other Digidestined, but we'll see each other again soon." Sora said. "Please get better."

"Everyone is alright." Tai told her knowing that she probably cared although her in her current state no one really knew what she was thinking. Rika had refused to talk to anyone.

Tai looked over at Sora who in turn looked back. They didn't know what else to do so they left.

Rika looked up at the ceiling. The worlds were combined, which was good right? This meant that there would be no more tremors, right? But which worlds were it that combined? Was it the two real worlds? The two digital worlds? All four worlds? Why couldn't they just tell her? And why didn't she ask?

Her mind wandered back to that day that Takato uncovered her grandma's face amongst the rubble of her house. She had honestly thought that she'd be seeing her again as she felt Ryo stab her in the stomach. But here she was alone and in the hospital. Her grandma still gone from her life. Could she go on knowing that she was really alone?

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><p>Against what everyone had told her she had to go and see Ryo. Mostly because he had asked her to be there when he met with his parents again for the first time in years. He still wasn't allowed to leave the house, and even though Yamaki, himself, advised her against going over he did tell her that Ryo wasn't exhibiting any symptoms that he was still under the control of ZeedMillenniummon, so he deemed it was safe, but he had no idea for how long. Rika took his words to heart and knew that she was going to have to take every precaution necessary around Ryo.<p>

She knocked on the house door. She had been released from the hospital only two days ago and against her doctor's advice she was out and about. Apparently she had a strong dislike to listening to people's advice.

Ryo opened the door. The redhead's eyes met his. It was the first time they had seen each other in two weeks. Ryo sighed and gave her a smile.

"How are you?" He wasn't really sure if that should be the first thing he said to her after what had happened. Perhaps it should have been "I'm sorry" or something like that.

"I'll live." She responded. "May I come in?"

"Of course." He moved out of the way so she could enter and closed the door behind her.

"They're not here yet?" She wondered as she head into the entrance to the living room.

"No, it's just me for now." He said walking over to the fridge.

The entrance to the house was attached directly to the kitchen which broke off to the left. To the right were Ryo's bedroom and a small bathroom. Straight from the door was the living room and towards the back of that was a staircase that led to the office, Riley and Mitsuo's room, as well as Sen's room and another bathroom.

Rika froze up when she heard what he said.

He looked over at her when she didn't respond and sighed. "Don't worry I'm acting on my own accord."

She looked at the floor. "Do you know when he takes control of you?"

"Yeah, I remember everything." He told her as he walked over. "And I'm really sorry. I don't think I could apologize enough to you if I apologized every single day for the rest of my life."

"Ryo…" He wrapped his arms around the small girl and held her tightly against himself.

"I will do whatever it takes to get rid of him. He won't get away with that." He whispered angry with ZeedMillenniummon and with himself for allowing that beast to control him.

She placed her one free arm on his back. Besides talking with Yamaki before coming over, Ryo was the only person that she felt like she could talk to. But she felt uneasy about it. Knowing that Ryo was under control of ZeedMillenniummon made her question her trust in him. Could she continue to trust him if at anytime he could turn against her?

Another knock came from the door and the couple separated. Ryo opened the door to reveal two people that looked a lot like him. The woman had long brown hair with the same type of cerulean eyes that Ryo had. The man had short black hair, a goatee and looked like an angry cab driver.

"Ryo?" The woman asked thinking that the man before her was indeed her son, but how could she be sure? She hadn't seen him since he was 11.

"Yeah!" He smiled as his mother's eyes filled with tears. The two reunited with a hug.

Rika had to smile, but she also had to admit that Ryo looked like complete shit. His face was still slightly bruised from Tai pounding on him, and his body had some nice cuts on it from wounds he inflicted from the battle. She could only imagine what his back looked like. She knew he had to get more stitches not only for the original gash, but also for the new ones from Cyberdramon's claws.

His parents came into the house and Ryo brought them into the living room where they took their seat on the sofa.

"Would you guys like anything to drink?" He asked.

"Let me get it." Rika suggested knowing that he probably wanted to talk with them and they wanted to talk with him.

Ryo nodded and then grabbed her left hand. "Wait. I want you to come meet my parents."

"Ryo, please…" She hesitated to go with him, but he wasn't going to take 'no' as an answer.

"Mom, dad this is Rika! Rika, my parents." He brought her into the room.

Rika bowed to them. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Though she really didn't want to meet them. It wasn't that she thought them horrible or had, really, any other reason to not want to meet them besides her fear of Ryo.

"Oh my! What happened to your arm?" Mrs. Akiyama asked.

"I broke it. It's ok." She said to her. She hoped that they would ask nothing more, and to her luck they didn't. She turned to Ryo. "I'll go get those drinks now."

Ryo nodded to her. "Would you like some help?"

"Sure." She admitted foolishly thinking that she could carry the drinks on her own.

"So, how did you find out that I was here?" Ryo asked as he came back into the living room with two cups in his hands. He passed them to his parents. Rika came in and handed him a cup and then went back into the kitchen to cook some food for dinner.

She had seen a note from Riley telling Ryo where there was supplies to make okonomiyaki. Riley and Mitsuo had something that they had to do for the day, and so Rika was doubly warned to be prepared around Ryo. She shook her head, brushing off the thought, and decided to take the initiative and make the food determining that she was probably a better cook than Ryo. Not that she really knew, because he had never cooked for her.

"Tai called us up and informed us of everything and he told us where you were staying. He said to make sure that we called here first, because there was some sort of situation, that he couldn't tell us, that might hinder us from coming over." His mother said placing her cup down on the coffee table.

"Have you talked with Ken yet?" His father asked.

"No, I haven't. I actually haven't gotten outside in a while, but I'll be sure to see him the first chance I get." Ryo smiled knowing that he didn't want to see Ken in his current situation. He couldn't forgive himself for what ZeedMillenniummon made him do to Rika, and he didn't want to have the same thing happen to Ken.

"It's so strange, this new world. I still can't get use to it." Mrs. Akiyama sighed. "I can never figure out what department store to go to. There's two of almost everything and it's mind boggling."

"Are you guys still in Fukuoka?" Ryo wondered. Did they still live in that house that he called home?

"Yes, of course." Mr. Akiyama replied. "You're mother had this strange hope that if you ever returned you'd come looking for us at that place, so we never sold it."

"Well that's true." Ryo looked at them.

"You're father always said you were dead, but I couldn't believe it." Mrs. Akiyama was always a hopeful type of person.

"What did you expect me to think? He was gone for nine years." Mr. Akiyama asked her.

"I don't know…" She replied saddened by the thought.

Mr. Akiyama sighed and took a sip of his drink. "So, Ryo…"

"Yeah?" Ryo turned his attention to his father.

"What do you plan to do when the worlds return back to normal?"

Ryo blinked a couple times. He was informed, and very much recalled, that the worlds had combined. The final result of the worlds combining had caused the largest earthquake in recorded history, and perhaps of all time. Before things got better they got far worse. The world, as they knew it, was almost utterly destroyed. But then, as if a miracle had happened, everything went back to normal-ish. He knew that it was, luckily, only the two human worlds since the two digital worlds were already joined, but the border between the three worlds was continuing to weaken.

"Who's to say that the worlds even will go back to normal?" He recalled Yamaki telling him that it was his fault that the worlds were merging, so why would they eventually separate?

"Well we can be hopeful can't we?" And Mrs. Akiyama was.

"Alright. So what do you mean what will I do?" Ryo wondered, deciding to play along with the thought.

"Are you going to stay in that other universe or come back home with us?" His father put it bluntly. "I think it's been a long enough time since our family was last together. Don't you think?"

A loud crash, like the sound of glass shattering, came from the kitchen. Ryo got out of his seat and ran into the kitchen to see what happened. Rika was kneeling on the floor picking up shards of a plate that she dropped. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her hand away from the glass she was picking up. She was shaking.

"Hey, stop." He told her. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry I was clumsy!" She was shaking vigorously. Her hand was bleeding from the glass she was picking up.

"Go wash your hand. I'll clean up this mess." He spoke gently as he let her go.

Rika nodded her head and headed to the bathroom.

Ryo walked back over to the living room. "I have to clean up in here."

"That's ok. We're going to get going anyway." His father said as they stood up.

Ryo nodded his head. "Please, let me think about what you asked me."

They both agreed and proceeded to head out of the house. Ryo then went on to clean up the mess that Rika had made and he also shut off the stove.

Rika stared at her hand in the bathroom. She couldn't stop shaking and the water made her hand sting like a bitch.

What she had overheard his parents ask him made her angry and upset at the same time. How could they ask him that knowing that she was still around to hear? Didn't they understand that perhaps Ryo liked his new life? But then again, who was she to separate them? They were, after all, his parents and they had every right to ask him to come back with them. Rika was only his girlfriend, and she could be replaced, though she didn't like thinking about it. And if Ryo did go back to his own dimension then she wouldn't have to worry about her life being in danger anymore. And she'd also never have to think about trusting him or not trusting him ever again.

She looked up at her face in the mirror. She had changed so much over the years. Personality and appearance wise she was very different from the girl she was long ago when their adventure began.

As she watched herself in the mirror she saw ZeedMillenniummon's reflection come up behind her. She quickly turned herself around her heart pounding a million miles a minute.

"Are you ok?" Ryo asked startled by the redhead.

She put her hand on her chest as she tried to calm herself. It was only Ryo.

"You're still bleeding!" He said as he grabbed her hand. "Did you even wash it?"

She shook her head as she tried to pull her hand away from him, but he only kept hold of it as he washed it for her.

"Ryo, please stop." She said continuing to struggle.

He looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared…" She reluctantly told him. "I thought I'd be able to deal with everything. I figured I'd be able to handle myself when ZeedMillenniummon showed. But I can't Ryo. I lost all my cards back in Hypnos and now I can't even digivolve Renamon. And that's not even the worst part." She pulled her hand to her chest. "I can't trust you."

"Rika…"

"No, Ryo!" She yelled. "At anytime ZeedMillenniummon could take control of you again. I barely made it out alive after our last encounter. And I can't tell when you're yourself or him!"

He didn't want to hear her say this so he stormed out of the bathroom and into his room. She followed him. He sat down on his bed.

"You're right not to trust me." He said though he wished that he didn't have to. "So, you're breaking up with me?"

She felt her heart sink in her chest. Though she was sure that he felt far worse. He had much more to deal with than she did. She knew he felt the same for her as she felt for him, but he also knew that with the new circumstances that soon everyone would turn on him. He had hoped that she would be the last to turn on him, but in reality she was the first. The others were suspicious of him, but she told him her true feelings.

"Please, don't think of it like that…" She felt really bad. "I don't hate you."

"But you're breaking up with me no matter how I look at it." She had never heard him sound so sad.

"Really, I just think that without me you can be reunited with your family once this is all over." She narrowed her eyes staring at the floor. "The only reason why you would stay here would be for me. And they have every right to ask you to go back with them. You are their son."

He walked right over to her. "You're right. I'd never leave you, but I respect your decision. My feelings for you won't change. But know that I have no intention of going back to that other dimension. That's my past, here is my future."

"Ryo…" Her eyes started watering. She didn't want this at all. Leaving him would mean that she would lose the last person in her life that she could fully trust. But she was right to get away before she unwillingly sacrificed her life.

Ryo pressed his lips, one last time, against hers as they embraced in a final kiss. He couldn't help but shed a few tears. She, after all, meant the world to him.

He broke the kiss and walked over to his desk grabbing his deck of cards.

"I want you to take this." He held it out for her.

"Your deck?" She was shocked. "Ryo, I can't your deck!"

"Don't worry about it." He smiled. "I won't be able to use this and I really don't want to have it around if I become possessed again. He doesn't need a power bonus. Plus, I can't trust anyone else with this."

She took the deck and examined some of his card. She noticed his Goliath card. Some of the cards she remembered from when she last battled him years ago.

"I really can't take these." His cards required only the strongest power.

"You're the only other person that could manage to control the power within these cards. I've seen your skill with your cards, you know what you're doing, and you've got some pretty nice cards that I wish I had." He chuckled.

"I had." She reminded him. "Are you sure you want to give these to me?"

"Yes. Plus, you can give them back to me once this is over. I'll help you remake a new deck."

"It should be illegal for us to make a deck together." She chuckled as well through the tears. "No one will be able to beat it."

"Only the best for the Digimon Queen." He smiled. "You'll need to turn another card into a blue card. I'd give you mine." He took it out of his pocket. "But it's currently black."

"Take care of yourself." She told him as she slipped his deck into her cardholder.

"You too. And please don't do anything too reckless." He feared that this would be the last time he saw her for a while, but had hope that once everything was over that he'd win her back.

She nodded her head and left the house. When she got outside more tears starting streaming down her face refusing to stop. She wiped them away and ran from his house. Renamon materialized beside her.

"He gave you his cards."

"Yeah." Rika continued to run. She had to get away from that place. "And I'm going to make sure to use these for all they're worth."

* * *

><p>Rika collapsed on her bed at the Katou's place. Her door opened suddenly as the voluptuous brunette jumped on it.<p>

"So what happened with Ryo today?"

"Jeri, go away!" Rika ordered not really in the mood to talk.

Jeri turned her attention to the deck of cards on Rika's night stand knowing that Rika's had fallen into that strange liquid.

"Did you get new cards?" The brunette asked as she shuffled through them. It wasn't until she saw the Goliath card that she realized that these weren't hers. "Ryo gave you his deck?"

Rika snatched them back from Jeri. "Temporarily. He doesn't want them around just incase ZeedMillenniummon takes control of him again."

"Wow, that's like a whole new step in your relationship!"

Rika buried her face in her pillow. "There is no relationship between us. I broke up with him."

"What?" Jeri screeched. "Why would you do that?"

"Just leave me alone, Jeri!" Rika screamed tears ran down her face again.

Jeri understood, at that point, that Rika didn't want to break it off with him. The redhead was holding tightly to Ryo's deck.

"Oh, Rika." Jeri rubbed her back. "You loved him didn't you?"

Rika shook her head. "I don't know if it was love, but I really did like him. I still do."

Jeri sighed, she had no idea what to say to her. She got up and headed for the door.

"If you need to talk to someone, I'm here."

Rika nodded her head and Jeri left.

The redhead placed the deck back on the nightstand before plopping herself back on her bed. This time she was lying on her back.

That was it. Ryo was now gone from her life until everything was over. That was if he somehow managed to survive and still wanted her. Seiko was also gone. Rumiko was a bad mother. Jeri couldn't keep a secret. Henry had a life. Renamon wouldn't understand how she was feeling. Now she really was alone. It was selfish, she thought, to ask so much from the people she cared about. But she couldn't help the fact that she really needed someone at that moment. And that's when the Digimon Queen decided to make a heavy decision. With herself alone in the world she could no longer be _his_ queen. She had to become the Ice Queen again, for it was the only way she was going to get through this. She needed to convince herself that she didn't need anyone. That she could do everything on her own.

Rika opened the door that led outside. Her pupils disappeared from her eyes as a big grin stood across her face. And in an instant she was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Aw man it took me nine chapters to get them together and four chapters to make them break up! I feel hateful reviews :O, but wait! He gave her his deck please tell me that counts for something? Anyway, I'm lazy. (You know just so you know that I'm lazy)<strong>

**Will start working on chapter 14 at some point in time. Also, for some reason, part of the last chapter got mixed in with this chapter, so if anyone sees anything and if like WTF that doesn't make any sense with what's going on! Then please tell me. I think I got rid of all of it, but I'm too lazy to re-read this chapter ATM. **

**Caio!**

**-Aninika**


	15. Chapter 14

**WOW, I did not mean to drop off the face of the planet like that I swear! So here's what happened. I kind of got an art block, because I could not for the life of me figure out how I was going to start this chapter off. Last night I asked my boyfriend and he's like start it off with a dream. So here it is chapter 14. I go to Maine tomorrow until thursday and then I'll try to get to work on the next chapter. **

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 14::.~<p>

"**W**here am I?" Alone in an abyss of eternal blackness. The only light came from her and her alone. The more she continued to walk the further she seemed from her beginning and even further, still, from her destination. "Is anyone there?" She called feeling hopeless.

"Rika…" A soft voice echoed in the abyss, though it was too quiet to make out.

"Rika!" Individual voices shouted, echoing as though they were only in her head.

She pressed her hands to her ears; the noise overwhelming. A figure appeared before her taking the form of Ryo. To her, the figure was very real. She ran over to him and into his arms, pressing her body against his. He wrapped his arms firmly around her shaking body.

"Ryo, where am I?" She asked trying to overcome her unconscious shaking.

"Who is Ryo-" He transformed before her eyes. She tried to back away, but when she did it picked her up with its big blue hands, by the neck, and brought her body off the un-seeable ground. "-subject Nonaka, Rika?"

She recognized it as the D-Reaper's agent that had taken the form of Jeri. Her amethyst eyes searched for an escape as her nails scraped at the agent's hand. The blackness cleared from them revealing a round red room with tubes everywhere. It looked like raw un-skinned muscle.

"You think that you can use me the way you used Jeri? I will not fall into your trance!" Rika shouted causing the Jeri looking agent to laugh.

"Human's wills are so easy to break, bend and manipulate. You came here out of your own free will, subject Nonaka. Your desire to push away your feelings for other humans is what drove you to the D-Reaper. Eventually, you will provide it with the necessary information it needs to destroy the world."

Some of the red tube like tentacles emerged from the wall and detained the redhead's arms dragging her to the floor of her circular imprisonment. She continued to struggle for her freedom, but it was useless.

"Didn't you learn anything from Jeri? Human's can change their destiny! You will not be able to destroy us! You don't even have the power to consume organic matter!" She struggled with every ounce of her will.

The agent just let out a shrill maniacal laugh. "Perhaps you have not heard of our new arrangement!"

From the shadows emerged a blue-eyed brunette wearing all black.

"Wait what is Rika doing here?" Ryo, in surprise, asked the agent.

"Ryo!" She shouted. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

He turned his head away from her. The Agent slithered its way over to Ryo feeling him up from behind.

"Human emotions are intriguing. I can tell you care a lot for this one. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to her." The agent moved its hand causing a red tentacle to wrap around Rika's neck.

Rika gasped for air as the red tentacle tightened on her neck. Ryo stared at her, his eyes hard.

"You won't kill her." He said bluntly. "You need her."

The agent waved its hand forcing the D-Reaper to withdraw its tentacle from around the girl's neck.

Rika drew in a deep breath. "You're working with the D-Reaper?" Her voice stung his very ears. Though she wasn't surprised by this arrangement.

ZeedMillenniummon appeared in the containment laughing.

"No, Ryo works for me and only me. And if I didn't need the D-Reaper and the D-Reaper didn't need you I'd rip you limb from limb, tear your skin off your muscle and rip you muscle from your bones."

"Stop it!" Ryo demanded. "Leave her alone!"

The agent flew towards Rika and took the form of her father, which only she could see. He knelt in front of her and placed his hand on her cheek.

"Papa?"

"Such a worthless girl. You actually think that people care about you?" He asked gently caressing her cheek with his thumb.

Ryo moved forward when ZeedMillenniummon stopped him.

"Foolish boy, she is a hopeless cause!" He spoke in such a way that only Ryo understood. To everyone else it sounded like he was speaking in ancient Japanese. "She is under the D-Reaper's trance and she shall remain that way until my plan is complete."

"You let her go!" Ryo demanded.

This caused the beast to chuckle. "Let her go? What better way to have you controlled then by stealing the very thing you love? Plus, if you want to save her you need to do everything that I ask."

Ryo glared at the beast. "Free her first!"

"No!" ZeedMillenniummon replied. "Once the D-Reaper completes its assigned mission then you can have her back. That is, of course, if the D-Reaper hasn't already devoured her!"

The agent stood up and started walking over to Ryo as it transformed its image into Rika.

"Ryo, please don't leave me here!" She begged as she gripped onto his shirt. "I love you!"

He pushed her away from him and then punched her in the face send her flying to the ground.

"Don't fucking touch me!" He yelled. He then turned his attention to the real Rika who was in full possession of the D-Reaper. "What is it you want me to do?"

ZeedMillenniummon grinned.

* * *

><p>"You're still here?" She sounded rushed and out of breath as she entered the blue-eyed man's room. "Didn't you hear what happened to Rika?"<p>

Ryo sat on his bed blankly staring at Jeri. Besides Rika he hadn't seen any of the Tamers since his last possession, and yet here Jeri was.

"Unless someone physically comes over and tells me anything I have no prior knowledge of anything that goes on outside this house." He didn't mean to be so rude, but he was a bit frustrated with everything.

"Rika up and disappeared last night. She left this though." Jeri pulled out Ryo's deck and held it towards Ryo.

He shook his head. "Keep a hold of that and give it to Rika when you see her again."

"The thing is that right after she disappeared the D-Reaper emerged." Jeri stated a bit panicked. "I think the D-Reaper has her!"

Ryo adverted his eyes. He knew that she was with the D-Reaper, but if he had told anyone else that then they would know that he had broke out of his room. And if they knew he escaped from his room during the night they would know that he was working for ZeedMillenniummon. As part of that monster's plan Ryo could not let the others know anything.

"There's nothing I can do…"

"You're not even going to try?" Jeri wondered. How could he not care?

"No, I can't leave the confinements of this room and even if I could what is it that I can do? I don't have a partner. And the reason why she and I broke up was because I was endangering her life. If I get near her all I'll do is put her in more danger." It was the honest truth. Not that he could save her if he wanted. ZeedMillenniummon wasn't going to allow him to free her and even if he did find a way to get to her he was sure to possess Ryo and force him to probably kill her.

"How much more danger could she be in?" She shouted. "The D-Reaper has her… It's your entire fault that she's in there in the first place! You were everything to her, but you forced her into this predicament!"

Ryo stood up and yelled back: "I forced her into this? I didn't force her into anything! I didn't ask her to fall for me! I didn't ask to care about her! You can't accuse me for anything! I didn't mean to be the world to her… I didn't even know that I was."

Jeri crossed her arms. "You obviously didn't know her that well."

He sighed. "No, I can't say I did. Most of our relationship was in between me being in the hospital or her being in the hospital. Then there was that two week period where we didn't even speak. Plus, she never told me anything about herself."

He, honestly, didn't believe what he was saying. But could it be true? He had learned much about Rika since returning. She never lets things go, she has a hard time talking about things that bother her, she's strong willed and thinks that she can take on the world, she's the first to admit the truth, she doesn't put things softly, if she's angry you'll know it, and she cares a lot for her friends and will do anything for them. But was that all he could admit that he knew? He didn't even know the simplest things about her like what her favorite color was or her favorite song.

"So, I see you're not even going to try." Jeri turned from him. "I expected better from you. I figured that you'd at least fight for her!"

But Jeri didn't understand that Ryo was doing everything in his power to fight for her. Obeying ZeedMillenniummon would keep Rika alive for the time being. Giving her his deck was supposed to keep her from his grasps in the first place. Though he had to admit that he was relieved that she didn't have the deck on her when she was taken by the D-Reaper.

"What is it that you want me to do?"

"Tell her that you still care. Let her know that she has someone in her life that she can reside in." Jeri turned back to him. "The D-Reaper will use her feelings of despair and isolation to control her for its own pleasure. Even now that I've broken free of its grasps I still feel a bond with that mass. I can't let Rika sit there and suffer as I once did!"

"She already knows that I'm here for her." He argued.

"Do you really think that?" The female brunette scoffed. "If you do, that is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard. She knows that she must null any connections with you for her own safety. How can she reside any information in you without it lashing back to her?"

"I cannot help it. I am under his control. If I try to help I'll only make matters worse, and ZeedMillenniummon will not let me anywhere near the D-Reaper. What you're expecting of me will only get you all hurt. This quest that you have is for you, the other Tamers and the Digidestined to face. ZeedMillenniummon and I have our own battles to deal with." Ryo looked at the short girl before him. "I suggest that you tell everyone to keep me out of the loop. Any information that I know will get leaked back to him. I can assure you of that."

* * *

><p>"We need to find a way to fucking destroy it for good this time!" Takato slammed his hands down on the table.<p>

"We all agree, Takato, but without Ryo or Rika it's not going to be as easy as we'd like to think it would." Henry mentioned looking at his partner.

"Yeah, I talked with Ryo and he's not even going to try." Jeri inserted. "I know his partner is ZeedMillenniummon and all, but he could do something…"

"No, it's best that Ryo not try to get involved. We don't need to deal with both ZeedMillenniummon and the D-Reaper at the moment. If ZeedMillenniummon can stay preoccupied for a while we can move in and take out the D-Reaper." Yamaki told them.

"It doesn't seem like the D-Reaper is capable of doing anything, as we saw the last time it appeared. Sure it can cause a lot of damage, but isn't its goal to annihilate humans because it believes that we have developed past our programming?" Dolphin asked.

Shibumi looked over at his comrade and responded with: "That was at least its motives last time, and it used Jeri to try and drain information. Perhaps, if it really does have Rika, that is its plan. Armed with the information that it acquired from Jeri and the new information that it'll gather from Rika we may have a harder time fighting it."

"Would it even learn new information from Rika? What does Rika have to offer that Jeri didn't?" Henry wondered causing everyone at the table to think about his question.

"What if it isn't Rika in particular that the D-Reaper is trying to gain information from?" Renamon proposed. "What if Ryo is the actual target?"

"What do you mean?" Janyu wondered.

"I think I understand." Henry butted in. "If ZeedMillenniummon is Ryo then he knows about Ryo's feelings for Rika. What if using Rika is actually a way to get Ryo to cooperate with him?"

Jeri shook her head. "Ryo didn't know anything about Rika's disappearance. I doubt that if that were the reason that Ryo wouldn't know."

"I don't think we can afford to trust Ryo anymore." Yamaki spoke. "I'd love to think that he's not involved in this in anyway, but there is no way to prove that theory. I'm sure that ZeedMillenniummon has him further in his grasps than any of us are aware of."

"Well in any case we need to get Rika out of there!" Kazu declared victoriously.

"Out of there!" Guardromon repeated gallantly.

Kenta turned to his partner and they both nodded. "We'll get her out of there!"

"That's if she's even in there in the first place." Alice stated blatantly staring at the boys with a half glare half bored look.

"But you said it yourself that we don't even know what the D-Reaper's plans are. Should we wait and see?" Henry wondered.

Yamaki shook his head. "We cannot wait!"

"Should we try to fish around with Ryo and see if there's any information that we can pull from him?" Jeri asked. "I mean why are ZeedMillenniummon and the D-Reaper working together?"

"Who says that they are?" Shibumi questioned.

* * *

><p>"Rika…" Ryo knelt in front of the obviously possessed girl. She was still being held to the floor of the containment by the red tube like tentacles. "Jeri came by today. She's very worried about you."<p>

He wondered why he was even trying to talk to her. It wasn't like she was going to respond. However, it oddly made him feel better. What he found even stranger was the comfort he received from being inside the D-Reaper's core. In this containment he felt as though he were untouchable. He really wished that were the truth. Though he did appreciate that ZeedMillenniummon was allowing him to see Rika again.

"Grandma…" The redhead spoke.

Ryo planted himself on the floor and stared at the girl. He could only imagine what kind of horrible tragedy the D-Reaper was making Rika relive. He decided to start talking with her.

"Jeri told me about how you're feeling like no one in the world cares about you, but you should know that's far from the truth." He sighed when she didn't respond, but still he felt like trying to talk with her. "Your mother, friends and even I care a lot about you. I'm sure Renamon is worried sick. It's not like I don't know what you're going through, because I really do understand. I felt like the Digidestined betrayed me, and I felt like I couldn't trust anyone. I still question my judgment on allowing myself to trust people. However, you can't let resentment knock you down."

She picked up her head and looked directly at him, but she didn't say a word.

He continued. "When I came to this dimension I was scared. I didn't understand a thing. My father was around, but my mother, she was gone from my life. Apparently she died in a tragic car accident in this world. That really struck me hard, but I had promised myself that I would try and make things work in this dimension." He looked at the ground. "Sometimes I wish I never recovered from amnesia."

He looked up and saw Rika mouthing something, but he couldn't make it out.

"Papa…" She managed to say staring directly at Ryo.

He looked at her quizzically wondering why she had called him that.

"Papa!" She kept calling as though she really thought that Ryo was him.

* * *

><p>Rika lie on her bed crying as her mother tried to console her.<p>

"He left! Just like Papa did!" Her voice was so tear ridden that it was muffling most of her words.

Miraculously Rumiko made them out. "No, it's not like Papa. I'm sure you'll see him again."

Rika was obviously crying over Ryo's disappearance. She had told herself that she wouldn't, but here she was and the tears refused to stop streaming from her eyes.

Rumiko understood love, and she also understood the attachment that her daughter was growing towards the brunette boy that stopped by almost everyday. Lately, she had noticed, that he was no longer showing up at their house, and she had noticed a behavioral difference in her daughter, but this was unexpected.

"Papa up and left just like he did!" Rika shouted. "I'll never forgive either of them!"

Rumiko sighed softly rubbing her hand on her precious daughter's back. "Your father didn't abandon you. I forced him out of your life."

The redheaded girl rubbed her eyes and turned towards her mother. "What do you mean?"

"You're father was very abusive when he was drunk, so I forced him off to rehab. He didn't want you to know, so he just left one day." Rumiko sighed again. "If you want to know more I can get a hold of his parents and we can spend some time up at their place."

Rika nodded her head.

* * *

><p>At the time Rika was only 13 years old, and she had so passionately wanted to know more about her father since he left.<p>

Her father's parents lived on a small island on the southern coast of Japan. The island inhabited less than 50 families and was nothing like Shinjuku at all. The houses were spread pretty far apart, and it was like visiting some sort of resort in the country. Everything was bright green and had a down to Earth feel.

Her grandparent's house was small and white. It sat at the top of a small hill and was surrounded by all sorts of exotic shrubbery. She, her grandma and mom were greeted by the kind old couple. There she was told many stories of her father. When the sun began to set her father's mother asked her to take a walk.

Rika and her grandma, that she hadn't seen since she was very young, walked and talked about trivial things until the reached a hill that over looked the entire island. At the top of the hill stood a giant cherry blossom all by itself. Her grandma walked her right up there and stood back a bit as she told Rika to approach the tree.

Directly in front of the tree stood a tombstone engraved with her father's name. Rika dropped to her knees and stared at the pale grey stone.

Her grandmother gently approached and explained to the young girl the story of what had happened to her beloved father.

That day changed the young girl. In her head she had grouped her father and Ryo as the same person. Both of them had abandoned her and didn't seem to care that she needed them both in her life. Both of them had broken a promise, and she found it foolish that she cared so much.

* * *

><p>Rika's pupils returned to her eyes.<p>

"You're not Papa!" She screamed causing the D-Reaper to react. Several red tube like tentacles shot out from the ground and the walls grabbing Ryo and holding him up in the air.

Ryo struggled as the redhead fell to the ground free from the D-Reaper's grasps.

"Rika!" He shouted hoping to get through to her.

"Abandonment." Echoed throughout the area.

An agent appeared floating before Ryo taking on looks similar to Rika.

"That is how she feels; abandoned by you." The agent laughed. "You are no better than her father. Her father that caused her so much pain. Where were you, Ryo, when she needed you the most?"

"Stop it!" He demanded. "Get out of her head!"

The agent chuckled. "She expected this from you. She expected that you would turn on her and leave her alone."

"Rika!" Ryo shouted. "Rika, you can break free of this!"

The agent placed its blue hand on Ryo's face and went to fire an attack when ZeedMillenniummon appeared.

"I will destroy your very existence if you touch him again. You will learn what it means to no longer exist." He threatened.

The agent quavered in its place as it slowly moved away from Ryo and then vanished as though it never existed in the first place. The tentacles dropped Ryo to the ground. He crawled over to Rika and held her in his arms.

"Please, let her go." He begged.

ZeedMillenniummon chuckled at his request. "I need her."

"I'll do whatever you want. Please, free her."

"No!" He decreed. "She will remain here and help the D-Reaper understand human kind."

"What do you even need the D-Reaper for?" The man glared. "You can destroy this world without its help!"

"You're wrong, Ryo." ZeedMillenniummon created a holographic projection. "These bands limit my power greatly. But once the digital worlds combine with this world everything will rapidly become data, and then the D-Reaper will destroy every ounce of its existence. And then I will build a better world for you and I, Ryo."

* * *

><p>"Jeri, what are you doing?" Alice asked chasing after the brunette who had stormed out of the meeting after hearing more than enough theories on the D-Reaper.<p>

"I'm going to save Rika!" Jeri responded. "I know she's in there. I have this unnerving feeling."

"And how do you expect to rescue her?" The blond wondered. "Its not like you can biomerge. And on top of that you don't even have a partner!"

"Alright, so it's not a perfect plan, but I can't sit there and listen to them debate anymore! I need to take action! No one understands better than I do what it is like inside there!"

The blond smirked. "Well then you're lucky that I have a plan!"

* * *

><p><strong>I think I'm ok with this Chapter. I kind of cranked it out, because I needed to get it done tonight since I won't be home until late on the 30th. In other news here's the link to my deviantArt: An1n1ka .deviantart .com (no spaces). I'm taking art requests, so if you'd like one just leave me a note (if you don't have one you can got to my account page on this site and click homepage that'll take you to my tumblr where you can ask me there!) <strong>

**Anyway we set up some more plot points here. Next chapter we'll, hopefully, see more of Alice and Jeri and find out their plan! And once again sorry for making Ryo and Rika break up, but they're going to stay like this for a little while. **

**So I'm out for a few days. Hopefully, you'll hear from me within the next week. **

**TaTa**

**-Aninika**

**PS. Sorry that the Digidestined haven't played a larger role yet (primarily the 02 children of whom we haven't seen). They actually have an important role later on in this story. **


	16. Chapter 15

**Wow, I've been gone for a LOOOOOONG time! Well this is a short chapter. It was actually supposed to be longer, but I decided that I wanted to save the action-y parts for the next chapter. In this chapter I kind of got all the plans moving just so the next chapter can mostly get straight to the action. But anyway, next week is going to be my last week home and then that following monday I take a 7hr trip to my college, so that I can go for two weeks of RA training. I will TRY to get the next chapter posted before I head back to college. Also, sorry for any mistakes I didn't really get a chance to edit that much. Will do at some later point.**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 15::.~<p>

"**S**orry to call you all here like this." Yamaki spoke as all of the Digidestined and the remaining Tamers took a seat at a giant round table that took up almost all of the space in the conference room. "I called this meeting for two reasons. One is that we have knowledge that Ryo can no longer be trusted. We fear that ZeedMillenniummon has him in further control than any of us thought initially. What I am asking of all of you is to keep him as far out of the loop as possible. The second is that we believe that the D-Reaper may have taken Rika."

"What is the D-Reaper?" Tai asked.

Davis stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "Who cares what it is? If it took someone then we need to defeat it and take her back!"

"That's really reckless, Davis. We don't know anything about this thing." Kari scolded.

Davis took her words to heart and sat back down.

"The D-Reaper is a program originally designed to keep Digimon from developing past their programming. However, it believes that humans have developed too far past their programming and wants to destroy us all. Luckily it can't understand organic matter, so, instead, what it does is consume inorganic matter and expands." Yamaki said.

"The last time it showed it took Jeri and used her as a device to understand humans, but it failed and in the end we were able to defeat the D-Reaper. Or at least we thought we did. Ryo informed us, while we were in the digital world, that the D-Reaper was only converted back to its most simple form. All this time it has been developing and he feared that we would not be able to beat it this time." Henry added.

"That's why I called you here." Referring to the Digidestined. "The D-Reaper knows the Tamers and knows how they will approach it, but it does not know of you."

"I don't know that we'll be able to do anything." Sora spoke. "We've never faced anything like this."

"We've got to do something!" Davis shouted. "If it were any of us in there we'd stop at nothing to set them free!"

"Davis does have a point." Matt sighed really hating to agree with him.

"Yeah, so what if we've never faced anything like the D-Reaper? When we all received our Digimon we didn't know how to face anything, but we managed to overcome!" Tai's words of wisdom.

"Where is Jeri anyway?" Mimi wondered, but no one had an answer for her.

Izzy decided to speak up. "I was talking with Gennai and he thinks he found a solution to our ZeedMillenniummon problem."

Yamaki walked over and locked the door as a precaution so that no one else would know what was going on.

"He feared that if he told me that there would be some way of ZeedMillenniummon finding out. However, he did tell me that there is no way to defeat him without killing Ryo, but he did find a way to lock ZeedMillenniummon away inside Monodramon."

"Oh man, doesn't that old geezer know that we need to know of his plan if we want to put it in action? How are we supposed to do anything if he won't tell us?" Kazu crossed his arms and pouted.

"Well I have an idea as to why, and I'm figuring it's because Ryo, himself, might be the solution, but if Ryo knows then so will ZeedMillenniummon." Izzy sighed. "It's a hard situation."

"Then shouldn't we do what we can to sever the connection between ZeedMillenniummon and Ryo?" Ken wondered. Ryo was, after all, his long time friend. Ken would do just about anything for him.

"Only Ryo or ZeedMillenniummon would be able to sever their connection. If Ryo already knew how to do that I'm sure he would have." Willis answered.

* * *

><p>The two girls headed into Yamaki's lab noticing that it was barren from any other life than them. Jeri stood there and looked around the room as the blonde, who was more eager, went straight for the chair that Riley and Tally used to operate the huge computer.<p>

Alice crawled into Riley's seat and started operating the system. Jeri walked over and watched as the blonde ran through algorithms and typed ferociously on the colorful keyboard.

"Yamaki is going to be pissed if he sees you using his computer." Jeri stated.

"My computer isn't powerful enough to get this done, and this so happens to be the only computer I know of that could do this." Alice responded, she continued to type as though the conversation didn't faze her.

Jeri wore a scowl on her face. "You still haven't told me what your plan is."

Alice stopped and looked down at the large breasted brunette. "I haven't?"

"No."

The blonde twirled one of her piggy tails as she thought of a way to put it. "While it is true that our partners no longer exist it does not mean that their data isn't still floating around. When Leomon died, Beelzemon consumed most of his data; however, in order for a D-arc to form data is required from each partner. What I mean is that your D-arc still harbors data from Leomon."

The brunette crossed her arms. "I get that, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "How dumb are you?"

Jeri and Alice had a good relationship, but Alice was more like Rika than the brunette had wished. Though the redhead and the blonde had a lot in common Alice and Rika still found their differences. Alice didn't care much about anything, ever, while Rika did show more emotion than that of a constant glare and eye roll.

Jeri crossed her arms and stared at Alice. When she realized that the blonde was paying no attention to her she spoke up.

"So what is your plan?"

* * *

><p>Ryo found himself back in his room at the Yamaki's. He honestly couldn't remember how he got back or even when. He did remember what ZeedMillenniummon had told him about not having the power to destroy the world. It all made sense to him. The D-Reaper was just being used by ZeedMillenniummon. The D-Reaper actually feared the ever-powerful Digimon, because it wasn't stupid; it knew that if ZeedMillenniummon didn't need it, it wouldn't exist anymore. That had to make the D-Reaper angry. The D-Reaper's sole purpose was to make sure that the Digimon never went past their original programming, but now there was a Digimon that developed to be so powerful that it could destroy and rebuild worlds. And then Ryo wondered to himself if the D-Reaper had alternative plans for working with ZeedMillenniummon. And not only that, but he also wondered what became of the Royal Knights that were working with ZeedMillenniummon.<p>

He lay down on his bed, arms folded behind his head, as he stared at the ceiling. Ryo hated the fact that Rika was trapped and under the D-Reaper's control. He knew so little about her and what had happened between her and her father, and he found it all to be mysterious. He made a goal to learn as much as he could about her after this was all over. He wanted his girlfriend back, but most of all he wanted Rika to be herself again. The D-Reaper took away all that she was and turned her into a little helpless kid. And if there was anything that Ryo knew it was that Rika was anything but helpless.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on his open door. Ryo turned his head towards the door. With his cerulean eyes he stared at the figure. Yamaki stood there, in casual clothes, hands in his pockets, he heaved a sigh.

"How did it come to this?" Yamaki asked.

Ryo sat up and ran his hand through his hair. "If I had never answered that distress call all those years ago none of this would have ever happened. I'd be a spoiled only child and I never would have met any of you or even the Digidestined."

"And Rika?"

Ryo looked at his lap. "Who knows what would have become of her."

"It's hard to think of how the entire world would be different if one person hadn't existed. But remember that things happen a certain way just because you exist." Yamaki mentioned.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that."

Yamaki stepped further into the room. "You're the only one that can save her."

"How?" The brunette wondered. "If I could save her I would have by now."

"What is ZeedMillenniummon going to do to you? He can't kill you." Yamaki reminded.

"He can kill her. And I don't know what I'd do if he did. I tried living six years without her, and I couldn't do it. I spent every single day thinking about her and wondering what became of her. What would have happened if I had stayed? Why the fuck did I leave her? And why the fuck can't I save her now?" He yelled.

Yamaki shook his head. "You can do something."

"What? Fucking what?" Ryo stood up. "I love her and there's nothing I can do for her! Every second she's in there I feel like a piece of my heart is being ripped out! I had to let her go, but don't you think that that killed me? Now look where she is?"

"Why don't you sever your connection with ZeedMillenniummon?"

"Don't you think I would have already? I don't fucking know how!" Ryo shouted. "I'm not a Digimon! I don't have special powers. I am a human!"

"You have lived through so much. You may be only 20 years old, but you've lived a life much longer than your age."

"What?" Ryo looked at him confused. "No, I haven't. I'm only 20 years old. Are you referring back to the fact that I was at the beginning of the digital world?"

"Well, yes, of course. There is no way you can only be 20."

"Why are we even back to this?" Ryo wondered. "Look, I'm 20! I'm going to be 21 in October, ok? You really want to know how I was at the beginning on the digital world? Moon=Millenniummon asked me to travel through time/space with him. I was so pissed with the Digidestined that I agreed to leave that dimension behind, but something happened and I was sent into the past. I had lost all my memories and Monodramon helped me gain them back. Moon=Millenniummon was sent to the future, so I had to travel through different dimensions to get to him. I really am 20. Why is this even a big deal?"

"Nothing. Never mind. My point is that you've been through a lot. You weren't given the title 'Legendary Tamer' for no apparent reason." Yamaki just wanted Ryo to understand that if anyone could do this it would be him. "You can figure out a way to get through this."

Ryo turned his head away. "I hope you're right."

* * *

><p>"Even when Dobermon burst into data not all of him was consumed. In fact after he gave the Tamers the power to biomerge in the real world he appeared before me and licked my cheek. His data still exists, but it is too weak to maintain his form." Alice told the usually jubilant brunette. "My plan is to infuse their remaining data in our D-arcs to allow a sort of spirit evolution, I suppose. It'd be like biomerging except the Digimon would just be a form and not our actual partners."<p>

Jeri hugged her D-arc. "So Leomon really is gone?"

The blonde sighed. "Yeah, he really is. But my plan is to use our new power to save Rika. That's what you want isn't it?"

Jeri pulled her D-arc away from her chest and looked at it. The cracked screen and static reminded her of her long gone partner. She couldn't save him, but she would save Rika.

"Alright, let's do this!"

Alice showed one of her rare smiles. "Now that is what I want to hear!"

* * *

><p>"So what are we going to do?" Tai asked as he sat on his bed while the other Digidestined tried to find a place to sit down.<p>

"Should we even bother trying?" Sora wondered. "I mean look how hard it was to try and hurt Cyberdramon once ZeedMillenniummon's powers returned to him. We've never fought anything like this. I think we should just leave it to the Tamers."

"What?" Yolei questioned in pure shock. "That doesn't sound like you at all!"

Sora looked over at Yolei. "I know, but you didn't have to face him. And we've never fought anything like the D-Reaper."

"The only problem with that is this is the only world left. If this world is destroyed we have no place to go. Do you honestly think we could live out the remainder of our lives in the digital world? Do you remember how hard it was when we first went there? Our lives would be in constant danger all the time. Here we can end this and hopefully bring the worlds back to the way they were." Tai had hoped that he could change their minds.

"Well I'm with Tai." Kari mentioned. "We can't let the Tamers do this on their own."

"Well if Kari is in then I am too." Davis cheered.

T.K. and Ken looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Davis' remark. Of course he would be in.

Tai looked around the room and saw that most of the Digidestined were agreeing with him, but he could still see the hesitation on Sora's face.

"I just don't want to lose Biyomon." Sora moped.

"How do you think the Tamers would feel if they lost their Digimon?" Matt asked. "If we don't help them then they could lose them."

"Come on Sora. We're going to need your help." Tai pleaded.

Sora looked at all of her friends and she knew what she had to do. She nodded. And with that the Digidestined agreed to help the Tamers win their world back.

* * *

><p><strong>Aw he's in love with her :) Anyway, now we got everyone working together. And blah blah blah... THANKS FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! Please keep them coming when I get a lack of reviews I feel like no one is reading and that tends to deter me from working on this . <strong>

**C'ya hopefully soon!**

**-Aninika**

**PS. Next chapter we'll be about half way through the story. **


	17. Chapter 16

**Oh I know I said I'd try to get this up the week before I came back to college, but I was too busy enjoying my last few days of summer. Anyway I just finished this chapter and I have to say that it is the best written chapter so far and it is actually my favorite. Also, all the chapters are undergoing even more severe revisions. So far only the prologue is complete. I'm going to try to finish Chapter 1 either today or tomorrow. Plus, I really just needed to take a break from all of these sketch requests I've been doing. Anyway here is chapter 16!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 16::.~<p>

**A**lice removed the USB cord from Jeri's D-arc and handed it back over to her.

"It took quite a bit of work to try and find some of Leomon's remaining data, but lucky for you I am a genius."

Jeri stared at her D-arc. The memories of Leomon all flooded back to her at once and she wished that she were stronger and was able to stop him from dying. How was it that Ryo or Rika, who were drastically more reckless with their Digimon, were able to keep theirs alive? In the mean time Jeri was as cautious as they came, and look what happened to him. Perhaps, if only she had been more reckless then that situation wouldn't have escalated to those levels.

"What no 'thank you'?" Alice looked a bit peeved.

Jeri looked up from her D-arc. "Do you really think this will work? My D-arc isn't in the best of conditions…"

The blonde shrugged. "I suppose it's like when you crack the screen on your cell phone or iPod. Yeah, it looks like shit, but it still functions, maybe not to full capacity, but whatever."

The brunette wasn't so satisfied with that answer, but she wasn't a repairperson. She'd have to deal.

"You ready to try these things out?" Alice wondered. She was really stocked to see what would result from her experiment. She knew that she had done everything correctly. She knew that when it came to computers, foreign technology, alien technology or anything that most people would struggle to understand she was more capable than anyone. Even Bill Gates would have been jealous of her immense intellect. Alice didn't like to boast about her knowledge, she would occasionally, but she would easily become infuriated with anyone who thought that they could do a better job than her. In fact, she thought that all the Monster Makers were purely unintelligent subordinates. However, her grandfather made sure that she stayed out of their business. So she did what she could in secret. Sometimes she wondered if her grandfather, Dolphin, even knew what she was capable of.

Jeri hesitated to answer. Would she be alright with being in one of Leomon's forms but knowing that he was no longer with her? Mentally she didn't know if she was prepared for it. She drew in a deep breath gripping her D-arc as though it was her most valuable possession.

"Let's save Rika!"

Both the girls bolted out of the room, down the hall and out the door. When they got out into the night air Jeri stopped running. Alice noticed this and turned around-lightly jogging backwards.

"If your boobs hurt that much wrap you arms around them and let's go!" She demanded.

Jeri shook her head. "It's not that!"

Alice stopped what she was doing placing a hand on her hip. "Then come on!"

"Alice, would you stop for a second!" Jeri shouted. "How in the hell are we supposed to use these things? You didn't make a card!"

The blonde was severely disappointed in her comrade. "Don't you think I know that? You don't give me enough credit! What's the point of using a card? We don't have Digimon, and the whole purpose of a card is to modify Digimon to make them more powerful than they currently are."

"Alright, I'm sorry…"

"Whatever, let's just go!"

* * *

><p>When the two girls made it to the D-Reaper they noticed Renamon fighting off some of the agents.<p>

"Renamon!" The brunette yelled as she watched the yellow vixen floor her right paw into one of the agent's head. It deflated like a balloon before bursting into data.

"What are you doing here?" She shouted as she roundhouse kicked another agent in the side of the face. Her icy blue eyes never left the two humans.

"We're here to help!" Jeri replied holding her D-arc not knowing what to do.

Alice quickly unclipped her D-arc from her black belt that rested on her hips-coincidentally matching her dress. She held the black D-arc out in front of her.

"Spirit digivolution!" A bright yellow light engulfed the blonde before quickly turning black.

Jeri shielded her eyes with her arm. She was not expecting the bright light that had emitted from such a small device. Renamon took out a few more agents before turning her attention to the changing silhouette.

Emerging from the silhouette broke free an Anubismon. Its mighty power vanquished the remaining agents of the D-Reaper. Jeri stood in amazement at the newly emerged Digimon that stood besides her. Renamon stood there stunned. She got down on one knee and bowed to the god man.

"Anubismon!" Renamon's voice quavered as though she was talking to death itself.

The Anubis Digimon lifted its rather lengthy light blue arms and peered at itself.

"This power is truly remarkable!" The voice was a mix between Dobermon's gruff voice and Alice's quiet one.

Anubismon extended his golden wings and took to the sky.

"Hurry up and use your new power, Jeri!" The voice boomed as though it was God himself speaking to her from the heavens. The thought frightened the young brunette.

She was in the presence of a god Digimon. Not like the Sovereign, but Anubismon was the Digimon who got to decide which Digimon received the chance to live again or rot in eternal blackness. Even Renamon feared the power of the Digimon before her.

"I would do as Anubismon commands." Renamon warned the girl.

Jeri fumbled a bit with her D-arc nearly dropping it. She was shaking uncontrollably and she didn't understand why. The Digimon that floated above her was nothing more than her friend, so why was she so scared?

With her quavering arms she held out her broken yellow D-arc. "Spirit digivolution!"

The brunette was more scared than anything. She completely forgot about her own emotions regarding becoming one with Leomon's data. But when she became engulfed in the yellow light that stuck to her as if it were her very skin-she felt this overwhelmingly warm feeling that she wished she was capable of explaining. Her nerves instantly became calm and it was if she knew everything was going to be alright. It was at that very moment that she knew Leomon was with her even if she had no way of communicating with him. She knew that they would be able to save Rika and find a way to free Ryo.

The light burst away from the newly formed Digimon. BantyoLeomon stood on the ground as the auburn girl realized that she was Leomon now and that he would continue to live through her. She had only wished that Alice could have done this sooner.

"Don't worry, Renamon, we will get Rika back." BantyoLeomon assured her.

The vixen was not satisfied with that. "I am coming with you."

"No!" Anubismon declared. "When I installed our Digimon's data into our D-arcs I also put in an algorithm that would allow us to move freely about in the D-Reaper. Much like the red cards that you guys used the last time, but I made sure that this algorithm isn't going to fail. Shibumi's got nothing on me!" gloated the blonde.

"I will save my tamer!" Renamon shouted. Rika was her entire world.

BantyoLeomon felt a presence. He drew his tanto at the figure. None other than Ryo Akiyama emerged from the shadows and into the moonlight. The Digimon were shocked, but were not completely surprised by the circumstances.

"No one will be rescuing anyone." Chuckled the male brunette.

"Oh, fuck you!" Alice shouted.

Renamon's pupils narrowed as she took a very aggressive stance. "Go and rescue Rika. I'll handle him." She demanded coolly as she walked passed the two megas.

"But Ryo…" Jeri hesitated. She couldn't let Renamon attack him.

"He's possessed! Let her deal with him!" Anubismon called. "Come on, we need to save her!"

Jeri had to tear herself away from that situation. Her conscious called for her to defend Ryo, but her heart knew that Renamon would handle the problem most efficiently. She pealed herself away and followed Anubismon into the tormenting mass. She had one fear that because of Ryo sudden appearance that ZeedMillenniummon knew all to well of their plan.

* * *

><p>"Ryo…" The redhead collapsed to the floor of her containment. How could she even think to compare Ryo to her dreadful father? She understood, completely, what was going on. How the D-Reaper constantly made her feel self-pity for being all alone. That's all she could think about. And then her father's abandonment…<p>

She struggled as she tried to free herself from the tube like tentacles that restrained her to the floor. Momentarily, she had broken free from the D-Reaper's trance. But, she knew, as long as she was held prisoner inside the D-Reaper's very core, its brain, she could and would easily slip back into that trance. Did she honestly believe that Ryo didn't want to be there for her? No, she didn't, but her slight moment of hesitation was what brought her to this predicament. And now her and him were thrown in a tantalizing situation in which the outcome was uncertain. The walls of the D-Reaper's core made her future look bleak-as though she'd live out the rest of her life there.

She then wondered if this is how Jeri had felt. She wondered if the D-Reaper ever let go of Jeri to let her ponder her situation as she was doing at this very moment. Inside the D-Reaper she had no future; all she had were delusions and when she could she tried to hold onto a small amount of hope that someone would come and rescue her.

"Let me go!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She felt her broken arm snap from the force of her trying to break free. The sudden and immense pain dropped the 19-year-old to the ground sobbing.

The cast had snapped in two and her arm was now dangling freely. She used her other hand to cover the part where her bone had pierced through her skin. Blood was now pouring onto the D-Reaper.

The Rika looking agent appeared before her. It smiled kindly and then with its long blue arms it smacked her as hard as it could with the backside of its hand against her face.

"Why do you hold onto the hope that they will come and save you?" The agent asked. "You have been here for so long, now, they are not coming."

"They came for Jeri, they will come for me!" Her tears burned as they ran down her cheeks.

The agent let out a shrill laugh. "Even if they were to come Ryo would surely kill them all."

"No!" Rika screamed.

It just laughed again. "That's if your pet doesn't kill him first!"

_Renamon!_

* * *

><p>"Flash Bantyo Punch!" roared the lion mega as another group of D-Reaper agents were depleted from their sight.<p>

"I hadn't expected things to go so smoothly." Smirked the blonde as she took out a few more agents.

"Smoothly?" Jeri questioned wondering what she was talking about. "We've moved 100 meters since entering this stupid blob! Things are not going smoothly!"

"Well then I think we'd better speed things up!" Alice stated flying past more agents.

"That's really reckless!" The brunette sighed. She; however, knew that if they were going to get to Rika they needed to do it soon before ZeedMillenniummon showed up.

BantyoLeomon chased after Anubismon as the god man Digimon seemed to be flying through the battlefield as if it were a field of majestic flowers. In the mean time, BantyoLeomon was struggling to get passed all the agents, because he was gravity bound.

The decision to add Alice to the Tamers team came a few years after the Digimon were sent back to the digital world. It was actually Rika who brought up the conversation. They were all, excluding Ryo, hanging out by Guilmon's old hideout. While sitting on the stairs, bored out of her mind, Rika brought up Alice. She had wondered what became of the girl whose Digimon sacrificed its very life so that they could biomerge in the real world. Henry had recalled seeing the girl at a reunion of the Monster Makers, but had forgotten that it was that girl who had helped them.

Alice, at first, wasn't so keen on joining the Tamers. She had her own opinion about everything. She made it seem like she hated them, because they were the reason for Dobermon's early demise, but in truth she never blamed them-not even once. It was when Rika yelled at Alice that she decided that Rika was a formidable adversary, and thus decided upon joining the Tamers. Her legendary computer skills would later become public knowledge a few years later.

"I think that's the core." Anubismon pointed.

What Anubismon was pointing at frightened Jeri. Everything that the D-Reaper had consumed was removed from its prior location and used in such a manor to create a force field of sorts to protect the core. Not only that, but it was surrounded by the largest number of D-Reaper agents that she had ever seen.

"Looks like things are going to get fun." Grinned the blonde.

Jeri was in complete disagreement. She liked to think that she was a pacifist, so this was anything but her forte.

_Yeah, I'm scared shitless. _She told herself. _But Rika needs my help!_

* * *

><p>Ryo lunged at Renamon who materialized herself behind him-throwing him off balance. She took the opportunity to kick him in the back dropping him to the ground. The young man pushed himself up from the cool grassy ground. He dusted himself off and proceeded to wipe the dirt off his face with his forearm. When he returned her icy glare with a smirk she took an aggravated stance.<p>

"I don't think your tamer would appreciate you beating on me."

Renamon relaxed her stance. "No, perhaps not, but she would do whatever it took to break this hold ZeedMillenniummon has on you."

"Who says I don't like him controlling me?" Ryo asked. The vixen was stunned by that remark. "For the first time in my life I don't have to think about anything. I just do; I react to situations without a moment of hesitation. Do you know what it is like to constantly put on a façade? I got the title 'Legendary Tamer,' because the Digimon were always so appreciative of everything I did for them. I would defend them no matter the circumstance. It's rather aggravating to constantly have to wonder if your actions are correct or not. I mean look at you. When Rika commands you to fight another Digimon, do you ever stop and think: well maybe her judgment is wrong? Maybe this Digimon is innocent?"

"I will do whatever my tamer asks of me!" Renamon hissed.

"Exactly, blindly following orders is bliss. You never have to fall back on the thought that what you are doing is wrong."

"Your judgment is clouded!" growled the vixen. She was sick of hearing him talk. "If there were a chance that you were not under his control then I'd think you were crazy! But I know that is not the case, because Rika trusts you and she would never trust you if she heard you speak the way you are now."

"She is blinded by love!" He chuckled.

"No, it is you who are blinded by love!" Renamon yelled. "The reason behind ZeedMillenniummon's appearance is because you were so frightened to lose her that you did what he asked of you! I am grateful that you saved her life, but Rika would not be so blinded. She would do whatever necessary to protect all her friends. You only thought what was best for her!"

"So you do wish that she had died." Ryo remarked.

"No, I don't. I just think that you could have found another way around the situation."

"Don't you understand there was no way around it?" screamed Ryo. His hands shook vigorously as he held them up to his face. "He was going to kill her!"

"Ryo!" Renamon shouted.

He put his right hand to his face and moved his pinky so that only his left eye could see out. He began to laugh.

"Stupid boy keeps trying to break free."

"ZeedMillenniummon!" Renamon returned to her stance. She was sure that he was going to attack.

"Now, now, Renamon. Relax. I'm not going to kill her." Ryo stated as he approached the kitsune. "As long as Ryo continues to obey me she'll be fine."

His words weren't very assuring, but she could see the reason behind using Rika as a device to control Ryo.

"Ryo, you don't need to fear him. We will make sure that no harm comes upon Rika!" Renamon spoke.

"Pyro Sphere!"

Ryo jumped over the oncoming attack as he and Renamon turned their attention to the red dinosaur.

"Badda-Boom!"

The brunette's shirt caught on fire at his shoulder. He patted it out angrily turning his attention to the purple imp Digimon that landed before the vixen.

"What's with you, fox face?" Impmon asked. "You know he's possessed!"

The vixen crossed her arms. "Yes, I am aware, but killing him won't do any good."

"I disagree!" Impmon announced as he digivolved into Beelzemon. "If he's dead then there's no more ZeedMillenniummon."

She raised a brow. "True, but think about Rika's feelings. What about the other Tamers? He is their friend."

"You're too soft, fox face!" Beelzemon pointed his double barrel gun at the brunette. "Let me end this quickly!"

Guilmon rammed into Beelzemon as he fired his attack causing the bullet to stray off somewhere.

"Stop it, Beelzemon!" Takato shouted as he ran his heart out to join the party. "Attempting to kill Ryo will only cause ZeedMillenniummon to show up. Do you think he'd easily let Ryo die?"

The devil Digimon gritted his teeth. Humans could be incredibly bothersome.

"If I kill him quickly ZeedMillenniummon won't even have a chance to show his ugly smuts."

Takato turned his attention to the older brunette who stood there practically amused by the situation. This is what ZeedMillenniummon had hoped would happen. Takato didn't like that thought. He remembered what Yamaki had told him earlier that night. He had told him that the results of the analysis from taking samples of Ryo, when he was data, and the results from the biopsy they did on Cyberdramon proved that Ryo and the Digimon were almost the same. If a person carries half the alleles from each parent resulting in what we know as DNA proof that they are related then it was similar in this case. Half of the data in Cyberdramon matched 100% to Ryo's data. Meaning that ZeedMillenniummon and Ryo were the same being in organic/data forms. The logic behind that confused and frightened Takato. How could two beings, made at different times and of different matter, be the same being? And how was it that ZeedMillenniummon could control Ryo, but Ryo had no control over him?

It wasn't until that very moment that Yamaki had told him that-he began to believe what Gennai had said. There really would be no way of killing one without the other. But what was their connection? How could they be the same? Not knowing the answer to this drove him insane. He wanted nothing more than to save his friend.

"It's no use." Renamon stated. "ZeedMillenniummon's control over him is far too strong."

Takato turned his attention to the vixen. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to rescue Rika, but it seems your girlfriend has that under control."

Takato didn't know what she was talking about. How could Jeri have rescuing Rika under control? Jeri didn't have a partner and even if she did how would she enter the D-Reaper? He decided not to ponder it too much, because he needed to deal with his current mission. Ryo needed to be set free.

* * *

><p>"You're wrong! They won't kill him!" The pain was far too excruciating. She didn't know how much longer she could deal with it. She also felt her consciousness drifting. How long would it be before she fainted from blood loss?<p>

"What do you think, that they will keep him alive just because of your feelings for him?" The agent laughed.

She knew that it wasn't the case. Ryo was as much their friend as he was hers. Perhaps the D-Reaper just wanted him dead, so that it could be free to move upon its own free will. But if its goal was to get her to slip back into its trance it was sadly working. Rika wanted to believe that they would not kill Ryo, but if she were in their predicament then she would do whatever was best for everyone else. But she really didn't want to think about what life would be like if he was gone.

"If I die…" She winced gripping her broken arm. "Ryo will no longer listen to ZeedMillenniummon and then he'll turn on you. Your job is to keep me contained so that Ryo will follow his every command, but with the amount of blood I'm loosing I'll surely die."

If anytime was a good time to make a deal with the D-Reaper it was now. Sure, the Tamers and the Monster Makers couldn't delete the D-Reaper, but she had no doubt in her mind that ZeedMillenniummon could.

"What is blood?" It couldn't comprehend.

"It is vital for human survival and I've lost quite a bit." It felt like the very life was being drained from her slowly. It wouldn't be too long before she wouldn't have to feel any more pain.

"I see." Rika couldn't tell if it fully did understand. "But if you die there is a chance that ZeedMillenniummon won't know about it for a while."

"That's suicide!" Her vision started to become blurry. "When he finds out he'll still end you."

"I am the D-Reaper! It is my job to delete all Digimon that have developed past their programming! A being like him should not exist!" It screamed.

BantyoLeomon burst through the walls and lunged his sword into the agent's stomach.

"And neither should you!" It was Jeri's harsh voice that rung through to Rika's ears.

She was slipping fast. Retaining consciousness was no longer an option. She felt light headed, disoriented and weak. Her body was so weak that she couldn't hold herself up anymore, and like a ragdoll she fell to the floor.

"Rika!" Alice shouted as she returned to her human form. The redhead was doing all she could to not let her eyes close.

Alice quickly undid her belt and swiftly tied it above Rika's open fracture to cut off the blood flow.

"Jeri, Rika's not going to make it unless we get her out of here quickly." The blonde shouted to her companion.

The Lion man destroyed the agent and quickly made his was over to the two women. He knelt down beside her.

"Rika can you hear me?" BantyoLeomon wondered.

The redhead struggled to open her amethyst eyes.

"Rika we need you to communicate with us and open your eyes."

Couldn't they see she was trying her hardest? It literally felt like some had glued her eyelids together. She was working her eye muscles to their fullest extent, but still she could not see the two figures. Still she continued to struggle until she got her eyes slightly open just to see two very blurry figures near her.

"Say something!" Alice demanded. They needed to know that she was at least somewhat stable before they moved her.

Rika opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out only air. Why was it so hard to do anything? Her mind went into panic mode. Her restless mind over everything in her head; numbers, plants' names, when the last time she took a shower was, a song she learned when she was two, so many things that she didn't understand but did all at the same time.

"You guys…came…" She managed to say, but she struggled with each word.

Alice looked at BantyoLeomon who in turn looked back at her.

"Of course we came, Rika. You're not alone. We'll always be here for you." BantyoLeomon assured her. "Now, we need to get out of here before the D-Reaper sends more agents."

Alice agreed.

* * *

><p>"So what's your genius plan?" Beelzemon directed his question to Takato.<p>

The brunette didn't actually have a clue. How could he tell his friends to attack one of their friends; one of his friends?

"The D-Reaper is stirring." Renamon mentioned gaining their attention.

They all turned to the red mass that stood only meters from where they were. Whatever it was doing didn't look good for them or anyone else for that matter. Renamon wondered if Alice and Jeri were successful in rescuing Rika. But she knew that now wasn't the time to worry. Ryo had suddenly become their enemy once again, and there was something that needed to be done. All she could think to do was keep fighting him until he was rendered useless. Takato didn't agree with that, and all Beelzemon wanted to do was kill him and end ZeedMillenniummon's war. To Renamon, that started to sound like a good idea.

"What's the plan, Takato?" Guilmon growled-he was prepared to do whatever it was that his tamer asked.

"Rika would never forgive any of us if we killed him." Takato stated. He was really starting to wonder if he could live with her hating him for the rest of his life.

"That bastard is so certain that we're not going to do anything to him! I say let's prove him wrong. End it here!" Beelzemon roared as he cocked his twin pistols.

Ryo smirked. "Do you really think I came alone?" The others looked at him. How could they be so stupid? Of course ZeedMillenniummon wouldn't send Ryo out on his own. He was a liability.

The ground started to rumble and stampeding from the forest that lie behind Ryo came Kentaurosmon, a centaur like creature with six legs, two arms, covered in red Digizoid armor, from his chest came a horse head made of the armor, on his left arm was the sacred crossbow Múspellsheimr, realm of fire, and on the right was the sacred shield Niflheimr, realm of ice. His face was a cross between a dragon and a horse from which protruded vast purple hair. His tail was long and silver.

"Meet Kentaurosmon." Ryo smiled. "He may not be the most powerful of the Royal Knight Digimon, but his armor make him almost unbeatable. Best of luck."

Takato didn't like the way Ryo was handling the situation. It was though Ryo was just toying with him. Like he gained sheer amusement from the fact that this Digimon could end them all. He hated to admit it, but he was acting a lot like Ken when he was the Digimon Emperor.

Takato clenched his D-arc. Examon was also a Royal Knight, but Gallantmon was able to defeat him perhaps he'd be able to do it once again.

"Gallantmon may be a Royal Knight, but his armor is only pure Chrome Digizoid which does not compare to the Red Digizoid that makes up Kentaurosmon's armor." Ryo stated.

Takato should have known. Ryo, after all, was the Digimon King, a title not taken lightly. He would know who would win in any possible outcome. Takato never even stood a chance when it came to playing cards against Ryo. Now it was a real fight. Ryo had laid down his card and Takato's card didn't measure up. It was at this time that he really wished Rika was there to help him strategize.

"Don't forget you have the crimson mode." Renamon reminded.

"Yeah, I know, but… that form is really hard to maintain and in this fight I don't think it'd be very helpful." Takato mentioned. "What would Rika do in this situation?"

"I'd see what he has down and what I have on the field. I'd find my advantage and utilize it." Rika said as Anubismon placed her on the ground holding her for support.

"Rika!" Takato and Renamon shouted with relief.

The redhead was still woozy from all the blood loss, but for the time being she was conscious.

"He has one player on the table. Kentaurosmon has defense and agility, but you have numbers. Gallantmon has strength, Beelzemon has firepower, BantyoLeomon has both strength and agility, Anubismon is a fucking god, and Sakuyamon has agility and nature on her side. Use what you have." Rika stated. She was going to play this out like a card game, and for once she wasn't going to lose.

"In your condition I wouldn't advise biomerging with Renamon." Jeri told her.

Rika looked at her arm. The bone protruding from it disgusted her, but she needed to do something.

"We can do this with four megas." Takato told her. "We just need you to tell us how to make our moves."

"That's right. It's time to show Ryo what it means to be the Digimon Queen." Renamon stepped towards her tamer.

Rika looked at her partner. Perhaps she was right. This would be the rematch of a lifetime.

BantyoLeomon approached the redhead and held out a deck to her.

"It's Ryo's deck. He'd want you to use this."

Rika accepted it and nodded to her friend. Renamon walked over and took Rika from Anubismon so now she was supporting her own tamer.

Takato looked over at the two new Digimon that he hadn't seen before and thought how impressed he was. He instantly recognized BantyoLeomon as a form of Leomon and knew at once that Alice must have found a way for Jeri to merge with her long deceased partner. But now wasn't the time to be impressed with Alice, no, now was the time to take action and to free Ryo once and for all.

"Guilmon biomerge to…Gallantmon!"

"And so it begins." Ryo chuckled.

"I won't lose!" Rika glared at him.

* * *

><p><strong>So, I don't know if I mentioned this but I have an outline written for this entire story and I follow it to determine how each chapter should be written. I'm horrible with outlines, so i tend not to do them because I go really off topic. The overall events are written for each chapter so I know how each has to go, but I, generally, don't know how the chapter is going to turn out until I write it. In this case the chapter was supposed to go a bit further then where I ended it. However, I thought that this was a good place to end the chapter, so what was actually supposed to happen will be part of next chapter. Let me show you what I had written for myself to write this chapter:<strong>

The two girls enter the D-Reaper and break into its core. They eventually convince Rika that she is not alone in the world and she comes back and fights the possessed Ryo.

**And from that this entire chapter spurred up. It's actually interesting how that happens. And actually the fight I eluded to in the last two lines of this chapter is not the type of fight that I was eluding to in my outline. (Funny how that happens) Anyway, I hope you're pumped for the next chapter. I know I am. I'll see you then!**

**R & R**

**-Aninika**


	18. Chapter 17

**Well hello there. Sorry I disappeared for a long time, again. I got busy with college and life and things, but do not think that for a moment I forgot about this story. No, in fact, I'm constantly thinking of different things I can write per chapter. So, today, I finished this chapter and re-read it at least twice, and then had my computer read it back. I am certain that you will enjoy it. I tried to find all of my little errors, but when you write almost 9,000 words you tend to find that no matter how many times you re-read you will always have some sort of issue. Also, let it be known that this chapter could be two stand alone chapters, but I didn't want to do that to you guys. **

**Now as for chapter 1 revision- I am still working on it, but I felt like getting this chapter done was a bit more important. I'm going to start working on the next chapter after I finish posting this, and maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll have it done before Monday, no promises however. I do still have quite a bit of homework to do. **

**So here is chapter 17. It is quite long and also gets very detailed. I didn't cut anything out, so I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 17::.~<p>

ZeedMillenniummon leaned back in his chair as he carefully watched the redhead's team assemble in his mind's eye. He wondered how it was that she was free from within the confines of the D-Reaper. It was just a stupid useless program to him, but still he expected better. Now, what bothered him the most was that she was near Ryo, and Ryo was consciously aware of that fact. ZeedMillenniummon felt his control over the brunette start to slip, but as long as nothing too drastic happened to the girl- he was sure he could retain control. Ryo, after all, was nowhere near as powerful as him.

* * *

><p>"Kentaurosmon attack!" Ryo demanded.<p>

The Centaur kicked back his furthermost back left leg, putting an indent in the fresh grass, as he prepared to charge the four megas.

Rika never took her eyes off her ex-boyfriend. "Kentaurosmon has no choice but to play defensively-that's where his greatest strength lies. Don't get me wrong his attacks are still something to worry about. Wear him down a bit. Try to locate a weakness in his armor."

Gallantmon nodded his head. Wearing him down would make him slower, and that, in turn, would give them the advantage to find his weakness.

Renamon looked at her tamer. The girl was no longer young and hotheaded. She was capable of so much more; in fact, the girl had learned to think situations through before blindly going into them. And by those means Rika did become a stronger person. Renamon had no doubt in her mind that if Rika had battled Ryo that one day there was a greater possibility that she would have won. She had no doubt in her mind that Rika would prevail this time around. The vixen lowered her eyes to her tamer's wound.

"Rika, your arm is starting to turn purple." The vixen didn't understand what that meant, but she had never seen it happen before.

"Never mind it, Renamon." Rika ordered. She knew that she was losing circulation in her arm, but she could not afford to take the belt, that stopped the blood flow, off. She'd certainly bleed out if she did and she could not afford that at the moment. Though the tingling of her hand began to bother her.

She was more determined to win the fight. She wanted, desperately, to send Renamon into battle- even if they weren't merged- but she had to admit to herself that if Renamon wasn't helping to hold her up there was a good chance that she would have collapsed to the ground already. Her dizziness did not cease to persist, but she knew what she had to do. She had to fight through that faint feeling that wanted so badly to overthrow her consciousness.

"Rika…"

"What is it now, Renamon?" She snapped. She didn't mean to. Her inability to retain her focus and all the other things that were going on, due to the fact that she had lost so much blood, were causing her to react in an opposing manner.

The vixen chose to ignore her tamer's tone. "He faltered earlier when I started to question his judgment when he set ZeedMillenniummon free. His grasp on Ryo is slipping."

Rika understood what she was trying to say, but in her current state she had a hard time computing it in her brain.

"Kentaurosmon is what we need to focus our efforts on. When he falls Ryo will be easier to get to. I've been in and out of the hospital enough lately and I'd rather not endanger my life once again." She put it bluntly. She didn't even think she'd be able to throw herself in danger at this point. That was unless Renamon threw her in harms way, of course.

"He's waiting for us to make the first move." Takato stated.

"What is he planning?" Guilmon asked.

The knight Digimon took his stance. He hadn't a clue what was going on, but he was sure ZeedMillenniummon and Kentaurosmon had a plan. He had to hope that Rika's was better.

"Seriously, woman, what are we doing? I'm getting sick of just standing here!" Beelzemon growled.

Rika stood there trying to plan her strategy. This was unlike any card game she had ever played. She had never battled Ryo, though sometimes she really did just want to kick his ass, but this was different. Sure that was Ryo's body standing before her, but the being that controlled it was anything but Ryo. And that was the truth no matter what science told her. She couldn't believe that ZeedMillenniummon and Ryo were the same being, because in her head and heart they weren't.

And then it came to her. "Anubismon, imprison Kentaurosmon! Everyone else, attack!"

Shouting that seemed to have worn her out. The girl was struggling to stand even with the support of Renamon. How much more could her body take? Her arm continued to deepen in purple. She couldn't go on like this for much longer.

"Pyramid Power!" The god man lifted his enormous blue arms and held them out in a 'v' position away from his canine-human body. A glimmer sparked and then evolved into a tiny pyramid. It then shot away from his body and enclosed the opposing mega Digimon within it.

"Double Impact!"

"Shield of the Just!"

"Flash Bantyo Punch!"

The attacks pierced the pyramid imprisonment and landed directly on Kentaurosmon. His armor deflected the attacks, and the centaur stood there unharmed.

"Is that, honestly, the best you can do?" He chuckled.

This brought out a grin on Ryo's face. The Tamers didn't stand a chance. ZeedMillenniummon smiled in agreement. There was no way they could win.

The megas stood there with a disappointed look on their faces. They knew that his armor was strong, but they had figured that perhaps they'd done even a little bit of damage.

Agents began to emerge from the D-Reaper, and they headed towards the small group of Digimon.

"Rika!" Renamon shouted.

The redhead turned herself just to see hundreds of agents rushing towards them. There was no way that they were going to take them all out. One made its way over to Rika and began to attack when Renamon kicked it in the face, causing Rika to fall to her knees, and the agent dissolved.

She turned her attention to Ryo. "Fucking do something!" She shouted.

"These guys are going to piss me off!" Beelzemon growled as he changed his mode. He held up his giant gun. "Corona Destroyer!" The attack deleted many of the agents, but it was futile. For every agent that was deleted five more took its place.

Kentaurosmon began to charge at his containment- repeatedly ramming his body into the walls.

"Oh would you relax?" Alice barked. "You can't get out of there."

"Doesn't mean that I won't try!" Kentaurosmon declared holding up his Múspellsheimr, a crossbow, and fired his attack doing little damage to the pyramid.

Alice grinned, as long as he was in there they could deal with the D-Reaper and strategize how to beat him after.

The agents began to make their way past the Tamers and headed directly over to Ryo, who stood there like a robot awaiting orders.

"They're after Ryo!" Rika shouted to the others. "Renamon we need to biomerge!"

The vixen turned a worried look to her counterpart.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Beelzemon shouted. "We should just let him die!"

"He would do whatever it took to save your life, Beelzemon!" Rika yelled back. She'd never let him die.

The devil crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "If he wants to save us all then he's best off dead!"

It was sad, but the others agreed as well. It was too hard having to deal with ZeedMillenniummon and the D-Reaper. Ryo was indeed their friend, but his life for all of theirs- for the worlds- just seemed to be a fairer trade. They all knew, whether they wanted to believe it or not, that they could not beat ZeedMillenniummon. How Ryo even stood a chance against him was beyond all of them.

"We're sorry, Rika, but we can't take out all of those agents. There's too many of them!" Takato spoke. "If the D-Reaper wants Ryo dead then it's best to let that happen. Otherwise we'll all be risking our lives, and for what? Even if we manage to take out all those agents then we won't have the strength to take out Kentaurosmon."

Rika pushed herself to her feet. If they weren't going to do something than surely she would. She, honestly, didn't believe in sacrificing someone for the better good. And this went for all of her friends. Perhaps Renamon did think that she would have, and at one point she may have, but now was different. All of her friends meant something to her; even Ryo who she hated for the longest time.

She unhooked the belt from her arm and watched as blood began to trickle out of it. It made her feel lightheaded and disoriented, but that wasn't going to stop her. She ran towards Ryo.

"Nova Blast!" The giant fireball took out some of the agents that were gaining on Ryo.

"Tai!" Gallantmon shouted to his companion.

The wild haired brunette waved, as he rode atop of Greymon's head.

"We figured that you might need our help!" He laughed as the rest of the Digidestined caught up with him.

"Don't worry about the D-Reaper! We'll handle it." Matt assured him as he came in on top of Gururumon.

The Tamers were very relieved to see their friends and also very happy to see that they were willing to join the fight against both the D-Reaper and ZeedMillenniummon.

"Alright guys, let's keep these agents back while Takato and the others deal with the situation over here!" Tai shouted.

The Digidestined were all safely placed on the ground as their Digimon took off and began to fight the D-Reaper's agents.

Rika was very happy to see that they had arrived, but she had a goal that still needed to be accomplished. Her body was too weak to press forward, and so the redhead collapsed to the ground only meters in front of the controlled brunette. She wished that she could see the look on his face, but her eyes betrayed her with heavy blurred vision. She extended her good arm forward as she tried to pull her body along the grass. If only she could get to him then maybe…

Her body had sustained thus far, but now it was failing and even quicker than before. The amount of blood she lost was putting her in a dangerous predicament. She feared that if she couldn't get to him in time then she would surely lose Ryo forever.

Anubismon was caught up in keeping up the prism. As long as he stayed occupied by that then Kentaurosmon would not be free. The others went to help the Digidestined. And Renamon had made her way over to Rika, but she could not hear a thing. Renamon kept telling Rika that this was pointless, that she needed to get to a hospital, but even this close to death Rika was still as stubborn as ever. She'd save Ryo even if it meant her death.

The redhead made her way to Ryo's feet. She grabbed onto his pant leg. The girl moved her good arm back to the ground and attempted to push herself back up. Renamon understood that nothing she could say would change the young woman's mind, and so she helped Rika get to her feet. The redhead snagged Ryo's shirt and leaned against his body. It seemed so cold-nothing at all like she remembered.

"Ryo snap out of this!" She demanded. Her body continued to fail her.

He responded with a cold silence. Still she refused to give up. She gripped his shirt tightly within her hand and pressed her face against the nape of his neck. Perhaps she would die here, and she was prepared for it, but if she was going to die she wanted to be near him. If her death meant that he would be free then maybe she wouldn't actually lose him after all.

Kentaurosmon raised his shield and launched an attack that made the prism turn to ice. With his left three hooves he smashed them as hard as he could into it- shattering the containment to pieces. He then charged the girl and batted her away from Ryo. She flew about ten meters from him before skidding across the ground.

Ryo's eyes widened in horror as he watched her crash into the ground. He broke free from ZeedMillenniummon's hold on him and ran towards her.

"Rika!" He shouted as he skidded on his knees towards her.

She managed to open her wincing eyes and did her best to smile. She couldn't make out the figure before her at all, but she had a feeling that it was him. He placed his left hand on her cheek as his thumb gently caressed it.

"I'm so sorry…" He whispered. His eyes began to well up. "I should have been stronger."

She did her best to shake her head as she struggled, but tried to look in his eyes. "You did fine."

And with that she finally slipped out of consciousness. Renamon materialized next to the two and paid close attention to her tamer.

"She's sleeping." The vixen assured him. "Please let me take care of her. I'm not much use without my tamer."

All of this was his fault and now, for the third time, Rika would have to be taken to the hospital again. It didn't seem like anything he was trying to do was helping. In fact, he was pretty sure that just being around made everything so much worse. He watched as the Digidestined battled the D-Reaper's agents. They were being overwhelmed. And none of them were strong enough to take out Kentaurosmon.

Ryo thought back to what he could remember of Rika's plan to take out Kentaurosmon. Her plan made some sense to him, but he was pretty sure that the blood loss clouded some of her judgment. And then he got an idea.

"Gallantmon mode change!" Ryo shouted to his comrade.

The knight turned his attention to the brunette. Why was he speaking to him? He couldn't comprehend. A little while ago, Ryo wanted nothing more than to destroy them. Was he really supposed to believe that he, now, was on their side? He felt like it was a trick that ZeedMillenniummon was trying to play on them. He wasn't going to fall for it.

"Deal with him yourself!" He responded.

Ryo was shocked to hear that; however, he, honestly, wasn't surprised. He had no right to seek help from any of them. The brunette latched onto his blue D-arc and removed it from his pocket. From it a data whip appeared and attached itself to one of Kentaurosmon's arms.

The centaur looked over at his arm and began to tug on the whip trying not only to force it off of himself, but also, perhaps, get Ryo to let go. To his surprise the brunette stood his ground and refused to release the whip. This angered the centaur.

"You are a fool to turn against the master!" chortled the centaur. "You are nothing more than his slave!" He violently tugged his arm towards his body.

Ryo grabbed the D-arc with both his hands as he struggled to continue to hold his ground.

"I won't listen to him anymore!" He gritted his teeth- Kentaurosmon was far stronger than him.

* * *

><p>Ken turned to Davis. The brunette was closely and intently watching his Digimon battle.<p>

"Davis we need to help Ryo!" Ken yelled.

The confused brunette turned his attention to his friend. "Isn't Ryo on ZeedMillenniummon's side?"

"I think something happened." Ken pointed over to where Ryo was standing. "It looks like he's trying to battle Kentaurosmon."

Davis watched as Ryo struggled to maintain his ground while Kentaurosmon, aggravated, tried to break free.

"Do you really think he's on our side?" He wondered.

"Yes." And that was all that Ken needed to say to get Davis to turn his complete trust over to him.

The two called for their Digimon to return to them. Both Stingmon and X-Veemon digivolved together- transforming into Paildramon. The newly formed Digimon took to the sky as he headed towards the Legendary Tamer.

"He's going to need to digivolve again if he's going to stand a chance against Kentaurosmon." Davis told Ken.

Ken nodded in agreement.

"Paildramon digivolve to… Imperialdramon!"

The beast flew with great speed at the other mega Digimon.

"Positron Laser!" Roared the Digimon as it dove towards the centaur. The attack hit dead on as a cloud of smoke rose from the ground around the evil knight.

Ryo's whip was still snagged on something, but he could not see the figure behind the smoke. Still, he knew that he needed to hold on.

The attack enraged the centaur, and so he swung his arm vastly and launched Ryo into a tree. Imperialdramon didn't take too kindly to this action and rushed into the smoke to tackle the centaur.

"Ryo!" Ken shouted as he and Davis bolted from where they were to try and reach him.

Imperialdramon shot out of the smoke and into Anubismon as they both crashed into the solid ground. Davis clenched his D-3 tightly.

"We need to digivolve him!" Davis ordered.

Ken rushed to his friend who was still conscious, but in a lot of pain. He turned to Davis who was staring at him.

"Alright, let's do it!" Ken agreed.

"Imperialdramon digivolve to… Imperialdramon Fighter Mode!"

The dragon man stood there as he prepared to end this fight once and for all.

"Imperialdramon, do whatever it is that you need to do to make sure we never see his ugly smut again!" Davis shouted.

The dragon-man Digimon nodded. It was time to end this pesky fight. He removed the laser from his right arm and inserted it into the dragon face on his chest. Kentaurosmon stepped free from the smoke that had been surrounding his body and grinned as he watched Imperialdramon prepare to attack.

The centaur lifted his crossbow. "I will not be going down that easy."

"Don't worry your death will be quick!" Imperialdramon laughed.

This put a smile on Kentaurosmon's face. "I'd like to see you try!"

He launched his attack from the crossbow at Imperialdramon who, in return, shot off his Giga Crusher attack to retaliate. The two attacks collided with each other, but it was obvious that Imperialdramon's was far stronger. The attack pushed through the arrowheads and directly landed on Kentaurosmon. The centaur stood his ground allowing himself to absorb the attack. He counted on his armor's strength a little too much, and was morbidly surprised when he saw the armor begin to crack.

"I will not be defeated by the likes of you!" He roared in ferocious anger.

"It looks like you already have."

Kentaurosmon's armor shattered and turned into pure digi-data. The final blow brought the centaur to his knees and then he burst into data before them.

"Rika…" Ryo groaned as he struggled to move.

"Hey, relax." Ken told him gently.

"No, she needs to get to a hospital…" The brunette winced.

"Davis!" Ken shouted, turning to his friend. "We need to get Rika to a hospital."

Davis looked around frantically for the redhead until he saw Renamon.

"I'm on it!" The brunette sped off towards her.

* * *

><p>Rika awoke in her hospital bed- her right arm had an orange cast covering the most part of her hand and forearm. She wondered how she had got there and noticed the trail of tubes in her arm to an I.V. bag hanging by her bed. She watched as each drop of plasma infused red blood cells trickled down one of the tubes and into her body. From the corner of her eye she noticed a figure sleeping in one of the comfy blue armchairs that the hospital had provided in her room. It was none other than Ryo, of course. He had his left arm propped up on the arm rest- his hand supported his head. He looked so peaceful. She could only hope that he truly was free from his curse.<p>

She moved to get out of her bed when the nurse walked in carrying new bed sheets and clean towels.

"Well it is good to see that you're awake." The young lady smiled. She turned her attention to the sleeping brunette. "That poor boy hasn't left your side since you arrived here two days ago. He must be so exhausted."

Rika sighed mentally. There was no possible way that ZeedMillenniummon would have let him stay by her side. It wasn't proof enough that he was truly free from that beast's clutches, but for now it was all the proof she needed.

The nurse helped Rika to her feet and over to the other chair in the room. She then started remaking the bed.

"I'll let the doctor know that you're awake. If you pass the tests you'll be allowed to go home later today." The woman smiled as she finished what she was doing and headed for the door. "Do you need any help getting back into bed?"

Rika shook her head, and the woman proceeded out of the room. She removed herself from her chair and over to the sleeping brunette. Walking felt weird- mostly because she hadn't used her feet effectively in over a week. She knelt in front of him and gently shook his arm.

Ryo hazily awoke from his slumber. His cerulean eyes stared lazily into her amethyst ones. He was awake enough to show her his genuine grin.

"Maybe you should have gone back to the Yamaki's. I wasn't going anywhere." She tried to sound stern, but mostly she was just relieved to see him as himself.

He rubbed his eyes as he struggled to fully awaken. "I'm not leaving your side again."

She frowned. "It's not like we're dating."

A smiled grew across his face. "I intend to change that."

He stood up and held out his hand to her to help her off her knees.

"I called my parents yesterday." He said to her as she stood on her feet.

She looked into his eyes for a few seconds and then moved them away. "Oh… so you're going back to that dimension with them…"

He raised an eyebrow. "Did I say that?"

She turned away from him. "Look, I know that they're your parents, but I need you here! I don't want you to go back with them!"

"Rika! Would you let me talk?" He chuckled.

"What?" She snapped.

"I'm trying to tell you that I'm not leaving. I told them that my life is here. And I really mean that, Rika. I'm not leaving- not even to go back to the digital world. At least not without you." He smiled.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What about the Sovereign? You can't just no longer return to the digital world."

"Fuck them." He responded. "It's about time that they do things on their own."

He pressed his forehead against hers and smiled.

"Ryo, you can't just leave your family again." She whispered.

"You're all that matters to me. I love you, Rika. It took me a while to realize it, but I really do."

She was stunned. How could he love her? What had she done to deserve his love?

"You don't know what you're talking about." She forced herself away from him.

"Aren't you the one that said that you were once in love with me?"

"That was a long time ago, Ryo." She bit her lip. She was uncertain of her feelings for him.

"Well that doesn't change my feelings for you."

She clenched her fists and began to shake. Why was her first instinct to want to punch him? Had she really detached herself so much that her desire to hurt him overcame any other feelings that she had?

A doctor knocked on the door and entered the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we'd like to run some tests on you."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I have to leave the hospital in this wheelchair!" She groaned.<p>

Ryo began to laugh. "If you want I can run you down the hall and out the door."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you dare, Akiyama!"

He frowned playfully. "We're back on a last name basis?"

"If you run with me through that door we'll be on a 'I'm going to kill you' basis."

"That's tempting!"

"You're going to be 21 in a few months, and yet you still act like a child. When are you going to grow up?" She wondered. Though she secretly didn't want him to change. He kept her on her toes. She, honestly, didn't know what to expect each and every time she saw him, and she loved it.

"I can be bland and boring if that's what you want." He spoke monotonously making sure to stand up properly. His pace slowed way down.

"Ryo!" She growled.

"Yes, Miss Nonaka?"

If it weren't hospital policy to leave in a wheel chair she would have gotten out and wrung his neck.

"Can we leave now?" She wondered. At this point she was entirely sick of seeing the hospital.

"Well I must bring milady to the front desk to sign some papers." He responded.

"Ok, Akiyama, you can stop that now."

"Miss me already?" He was way too amused by this.

* * *

><p>She struggled to sign the remainder of her paperwork. The cast on her arm didn't permit her to hold a pen well. Ryo stood over by the vending machines trying to choose something. He wasn't exactly sure if he was hungry or just thirsty.<p>

She looked over at him as the receptionist took the clipboard from her. He had his right arm in the hair that stood up from the back of his neck. It was something that he started doing years ago. A tick, if you will, that he always did when he was nervous, unsure of something or embarrassed. He stood there wearing a white polo that complimented his black boot cut jeans. She couldn't help but notice how good he looked, but more importantly she was beginning to picture what he'd look like with clothes off. She shook her head vigorously.

"Are you ok?" The receptionist asked.

Rika was caught off her guard. "Oh, I'm fine." She laughed nervously. Why did she think that? It wasn't like they were dating, not that it mattered; he had, already, professed his love for her.

He walked back over. "Do you want a peanut butter cup?"

"No, I'm good." She responded coolly like she wasn't thinking about him naked.

"Ok then." He looked over to the doors. "It's down pouring."

"So?" She questioned. "Just go get the car."

He turned his attention to her. "Car?"

"You didn't bring a car?" She could literally feel her temper rising. "What kind of moron forgets to bring a car?"

"Hey, don't yell at me!" He said. "I arrived here two days ago. It was perfectly sunny then."

Her body began to shake in anger. "You're a fucking moron!"

"Well thanks, pumpkin. I really appreciate that." He crossed his arms. "It's not like I can drive anyway."

"You are so aggravating!" Her face was turning red.

"Well we might as well try and make our way to the Yamaki's since I've got no way to get you to the Katou's." He tried changing the subject.

"I'm not walking in the down pouring rain!" She stood up.

"Who said we have to walk?" He smiled.

* * *

><p>"Worst fucking idea ever!" Rika growled as she tried to catch her breath from running all that way in the pouring rain. She was completely drenched head to toe.<p>

They took refuge under an extended roof on the corner of one of the streets in downtown Shinjuku. They had to take the scenic root back since the D-Reaper decided to whore the main root.

Ryo stood in front of her panting and laughing at the same time.

"You're not enjoying this?" He chuckled.

She placed a hand on her hip. "No, I'm really not. I love being drenched. Look at me I'm soaked!"

He turned back to her and couldn't help but laugh. She really was completely drenched and she looked absolutely miserable.

"How is it that your hair is still standing up?" She wondered.

"It doesn't go down. It just gets flat in some spots." He said as he pushed some wet strands out of his face.

"Whatever." She turned her head to the road.

"Do you really dislike my hair?" He questioned.

"No." She answered and then turned back to him. "You wouldn't be you without it."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Fine then. It's iconic." She added. "When I think Akiyama, Ryo, I picture your hair, your eyes and…"

He waited for her to finish. When she didn't he asked: "And?"

"Hm?" She was lost in thought. "And what?"

"That's what I want to know." He said. "You said when you think about me you picture my hair, my eyes and… What's the 'and'?"

"Mm… does it matter?" She wondered.

"Entertain me."

"Your stupid smile." She responded.

"What's wrong with the way I smile?"

"Nothing! I love it-" She bit her lip and blushed. She didn't want to tell him that. His face lit right up. "Anyway, we should get going we still have a ways to go, and it's already starting to get dark."

"You prepared to get a little more drenched?" He asked.

"Akiyama, I don't think I could if I wanted to." She mention as she proceed by him in a seductive manner. He took it as a challenge.

"We'll see." He said slyly.

* * *

><p>"Ryo!" Rika shouted as she ran over to the brunette that was now lying in a puddle. Moments ago she was chasing after him, and he had beefed it.<p>

"I'm alright." He said as he sat on the wet ground. It didn't matter at that point.

She sighed. "Your nose is bleeding."

With his fist he wiped away some of the blood. "So it is."

"I told you that a race was stupid." She pulled off her zip up hoodie and handed it to him. "Use it to stop the blood flow."

"Thanks." He said as he took it from her.

"Well we'd better get going. At the rate we're creeping along we'll be lucky to get there by 10pm." She told him as she stood up.

"Could you help me up?" He asked.

Rika sneezed.

"Are you ok?"

"Huh? I just sneezed." She responded.

He stood up in front of her. "That's how a cold starts."

"Are you a doctor now?" Sarcasm.

"C'mon, let's just get to the house." He took the lead. "I'm sorry about your hoodie, by the way. I'm sure you're not going to want it back."

"Whatever. I have a million of them. I won't miss one." Sometimes being a model had its perks.

"You know, I'm curious about something." He said turning to her.

"Yeah?" She pushed her hair behind her ears. Though, at this point, there really wasn't anything she could do with it.

"Remember way back when, Kazu brought up the fact that you had a few photos taken for Playboy." He said hesitantly, really quite unsure what she was going to do.

"It was one photo." She corrected.

"Ok…" He was still hesitant. "So, what exactly were you doing in that photo?"

She shot her icy eyes in his direction. "Look at the issue yourself."

She was handling it a lot better than he was expecting. He really expected her to rip off his head.

"Why?"

He gulped. "Just curious…"

Her eyes narrowed. "Now of all times?"

"It was a random thought." He was going to play off of that.

"I wasn't completely naked if that's what your thinking." She said after a few minutes of pausing.

He could feel his face start to turn red. Why did she have to say that? Did she want him to picture her naked?

"I wasn't thinking that at all!" He defended, though now he was starting to.

Normally she would have been incredibly furious, but she figured she'd let him think about her naked since she was thinking about him earlier. And for the rest of their walk to the Yamaki's house Ryo was incredibly awkward towards her. It was strange. She felt like she had broke him.

They climbed the stairs and Ryo placed his key in the lock. He gently opened the door- trying to be quiet since he figured that Riley and Matsuo were more than likely sleeping, which they were.

"I'll go get some towels. Stay right here." He whispered.

After a minute or two he came back with two towels and without his shirt.

"How did you manage to lose your shirt?" She wondered.

He chuckled. "It was wet anyway."

"So are your pants and boxers I bet." She stated.

"Well I can take those off too if you'd like." He smiled.

"I'm good." She blushed. "By the way, how's your nose?"

"It stopped bleeding." He said. "I'm going to soak your hoodie in the bathroom sink. Maybe I can save it."

"It really doesn't matter."

"Yeah, but I feel bad."

She sighed. "Do whatever, but can I get some dry clothes to change into?"

"Of course. You can change in my room. Just take whatever you want to wear." He told her.

She went and changed in his room. After a few minutes she came out with the dark blue towel wrapped around her hair and she was wearing only one of his long black shirts.

"That's all you're going to wear?" He blushed.

"All of your shorts were way to big for me." She answered. "We're no where near the same size."

"Rika." His tone became more serious.

"What's up?" She leaned against the doorframe.

He was leant against the opposing wall. "I meant everything I told you this morning."

She looked at the floor. "I'm aware of that. But I don't really have a response for you at this point."

"I know and I'm ok with that." He said.

"Why?" She asked. "A few months ago I was with Kisuke, and now it feels like it's been too soon. Like I need to wait longer before I'll know the answer."

"I don't know why you still care about the fucking bastard!" He raised his voice.

"Ryo!"

"No, I won't say I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I'd kill him if I got a chance."

She crossed her arms. "Are you going to be like this with all my exes?"

"I don't even know of any of your ex boyfriends besides him, and that's not the point the only reason why I don't like him is because of how he talks about you."

"I'll admit he was an asshole that tried to use me for a year. He didn't accomplish anything, so I don't see what the big deal is."

"I don't like him. I don't hate anyone let alone want anyone dead, but for him- I'll make an exception." Ryo responded coldly. "You weren't there when he was talking about you."

"True, but I really don't care. We all make mistakes, don't we?" She laughed. "I guess you don't."

This peaked his curiosity. "What? I fucking up and left you. That's the biggest mistake I ever made. I'm not perfect, Rika, I'm far from it."

"But if it weren't for you-"

"-Then what?" He wondered. "I'm the reason that ZeedMillenniummon is here. I'm the reason why you've been hospitalized three times. No one wants to admit this, but you'd all be better off without me. I know you know it."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Why?" He couldn't believe her.

"My life has improved significantly because of you." She said. "You always set a bar for me. The reason why I'm the Digimon Queen or even as good of a tamer as I am is because of you. I don't even think that I'd be a tamer if it weren't for you."

"Rika…"

She clenched her fists. "So don't you think even once that you are at all insignificant, because if it weren't for you my life would be completely different. Both my father and you hurt me, but the thing is you returned. You did something my father couldn't. You came back."

"I… I don't know what to say…"

She pressed her small body against his as he wrapped his muscular arms around her body in a tight embrace.

"How about 'I love you'?"

He smiled as he nestled his head in her hair. "I love you, Rika."

She felt her heart flutter in her chest. "I love you too, Ryo."

She pulled slightly away from him and looked into his confused face.

"I thought that you didn't know."

"It felt right. This feels right." She said as she moved to press her soft lips against his.

Their lips found each other and entangled in a struggle of power and euphoric emotion. This is what they both had wanted- nothing more than just being with each other as they were meant to- made to.

Ryo reluctantly broke apart the kiss as he grabbed onto his girlfriend's hand and brought her into his room- making sure to lock the door. He recaptured her lips as they joined together in the middle of his room.

"So you really love me?" He wondered panting a bit from their intense connection.

"It's new to me too." She giggled. He found it odd but cute. It wasn't often that he heard her giggle. "You're the only man I've ever been in love with."

"A lot of this is new to me." He reminded her. He was in the digital world for most of his teenage years, after all.

"I think I can help you there." She smiled as she placed a light kiss upon his lips. He watched her with lust as she walked seductively over to his bed. "That's if you want me to."

With such a proposal how could he refuse? True, he didn't know much, but he wasn't completely ignorant on the subject. He wanted her. He had been craving her for a good part of the day. And she had been craving him. They both were longing for this moment even before this day. The day she first said yes to him- he wanted her then. He wanted her a few other times too, but this moment was perfect.

He gently wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her into another passionate kiss. Her hands began on his chest, but as the kiss continued to deepen they started exploring the ins and outs of his fabulous body. For a while they made themselves at home in his hair. There they discovered a sensitive area on the back of his neck that made him moan ever so slightly when she caressed her finger tips upon it. But soon they wanted to explore unexplored parts of him and that's when she started getting frisky. At first they teased his abs, but slowly they made their way south until they reached his pant line. There she felt his body tremble. She knew he wanted her, it was as clear as day, and there really was no point in even trying to hide it. Not that his wet clothing could if they wanted to.

He felt her struggle to undo the top button on his jeans. He drew in a deep breath as she unzipped them- allowing him more room to expand. She slipped her left hand into his pants cupping him, gently, within her grasp. The gentle caress of her finger tips on his sensitive skin sent a shiver through his spine. The tingle of sensation ravaged his body with each touch.

"Rika." He gasped in a sensual way. He pushed her hair aside and brought is lips to her soft neck where they began to claim it.

She tilted her head back for him as he ran his fingers through her long, wet, red hair. This night was going better than she had expected it to, and if things kept going the way they were it was soon to be the best night of her life.

"Ryo, what do you want me to do?" She whispered. Normally, she wouldn't have asked- only acted, but Ryo hadn't experienced any of this, and she wanted to know what he was willing to try.

"What do you recommend?" He smiled with his lips still against her neck.

"I've been told I give excellent head." She responded. Saying that only made him want her more. She could feel him expand further into her hand.

She heard a deep breath escape from his lungs and knew that she didn't need a response, because it was already apparent that he wanted it. He stood straight up as she gently placed several kisses on his collarbone and began to work her way down to his pectorals, ribs, abs, belly button and even further to where his skin met a wet clothing line. She was gently nested on her knees before him with both her hands clenched onto his pant legs. With a swift tug they went plummeting to the ground. He anxiously watched her with his starving eyes wondering so carelessly what it would feel like when she began. She kissed him through his boxers and began to remove them slowly. Free from his confines, Ryo stood there completely erected for Rika to enjoy. He continued to watch her as she looked into his curious eyes and smiled. Her tongue briefly touched the tip and then made its way across his shaft ensuring that he was completely moist. His body trembled with anticipation and nervousness. The animalistic sensation arousing in his body wanted desperately to take control of the situation though he rather did enjoy the way she thoroughly brought it upon herself to please him. His hands found their way into her hair and entangled in it. They clenched it at the roots slightly tugging as she forced him further into her mouth. He gasped as the newest sensation rushed through him.

"Ah!" He moaned with delight. His body began to unconsciously thrust gently into her. She took it and fought back to please him more, considerately placing his testicles in her hand- squeezing and caressing them with care. He felt his body begin to lose all sensations except for his sexual desires. His vision began to tunnel as his body trembled and a strong force from within him struggled to unleash itself. His sporadic breathing became quicker, as she continued to please him, reinforced this.

He remembered a vague conversation that he had with Henry and Takato about how blowjobs can take an unnecessarily long time to reach climax. He, honestly, didn't understand what they were talking about. It had been only a few minutes since Rika began to go down on him, and he could feel himself preparing to unleash inside of her mouth. She was a pro; he could tell. And that was when he lost all sensation in his body.

"Keep doing that!" He ordered as he tilted his head back to reclaim more air. The way her tongue ran against him sent into an animalistic state. He pulled her hair tighter within his clench as she ran her fingers up and down his inner thighs. The force threatened to unleash.

She found all of this to be too much fun. Never had she thoroughly enjoyed going down on someone before, but everything she did with Ryo seemed to make her life more interesting. Kisuke had always told her exactly what to do- never once letting her experiment, but Ryo, well he didn't know what he liked and so she was free to decide how she wanted to please him. The way he tugged on her hair turned her on. He was forceful, but in a good way. The complete opposite of Kisuke.

And finally Ryo's breath labored, his muscles throughout his body tightened as his body discharged into her. The worn out look on his face made her certain that he was going to fall over, but the brunette was too stubborn for that. He wobbled back and forth, but maintained his ground the entire time. She gave him props. She returned to her feet standing before the naked man with only his shirt to cover her naked body.

He placed his right hand on her cheek and forced his lips upon hers as his left hand began to push his shirt off of her. He moved his right hand to embark on the same quest as his left, and completely removed the shirt from her body so that, now, she stood naked before him. She stepped back to let his eyes quickly eat up her image. And they did until they reached the scar on her stomach and stopped. He heaved a sigh.

She quickly pressed her body against his, so that he would no longer have to look at it. He stood there distraught, unable to forgive himself for doing that to her.

"I love you and don't you ever forget that." She told him. She listened to his heartbeat and his breathing, which seemed tense.

"I know."

"It wasn't your fault, and do not think for a second that I believe that it is." She wanted to ease his pain. But she knew it was going to be a hard burden for him to bear.

"It was me that did it though." The agony of his tormented soul showed through, clearly, within his eyes.

"Hush." She told him. She raised herself on her toes and placed a kiss upon his lips. If there were nothing else she could do, she would make him forget, at least for the time being.

He wanted nothing more than this moment with her. Just being alone in his room with nothing standing between them. He would ensure her safety from here on out. Nothing was going to happen to his girl ever again. And as he went over this in his head his urges began to reclaim possession over his brain. Rika, after all, was naked.

While they were kissing, passionately, Ryo pushed her against the wall. The force of it startled her, and the sudden cold feeling that attacked her when she was first pressed against the wall didn't help. Ryo certainly was no Kisuke. He wasn't forceful, but he was rough. She could tell that was how he liked it, and she learned that she really enjoyed it too. A wall definitely wasn't as intimate as a bed, but the arousal and excitement that came from doing something different stirred all of her hormones. A wall would add a necessary level of roughness.

Ryo peered at her with his eyes, which caused her to smile. If he wanted it rough then that was what she was going to give him. She moved her left hand into his hair while her right, casted, arm clenched onto his left bicep. She started tugging lightly at his hair to see how he would react, and when he didn't she pulled harder. He moaned and pressed his face near her ear.

"I want you." He whispered. "All of you."

Her breathing intensified as she could feel a cool trickle down her leg. Ryo was going to be the one she gave it to. There was no doubt about that.

She wanted to tease him. She wanted to mess with him, but she, herself, didn't know if she could handle waiting any longer. She was ready for him. All of him.

"Take what's rightfully yours." She whispered in return. Her cheeks were stained red. It wasn't her fault; she couldn't help but blush.

Ryo smiled at this response. He had hoped she would say yes. He couldn't even begin to think about what he would have done if she had said no. His lips met passionately and wildly with hers. His left hand made its way down her back. It met with her firm butt and continued south until it touched her thigh. There he hoisted her bent leg to his waist level. He used his right arm to support them against the wall. Their lips continued in a power struggle until she felt him enter her body. She gasped and instantly dug her nails into his chest. With his enlarged cock inside her- he began to thrust gently. She was tight, tighter than he had wished she were, but both of them had to admit that it felt wonderful. He had overheard Takato talking to Henry, a while ago, about how it was a goal to make Jeri as loose as possible so that he could fully fit inside her. That's what Ryo wanted. He was far too large for her, but he didn't want to be. And so he made it his goal to loosen her up. He began to increase his thrusts and the amount of force he applied. Her body was banging against the wall vigorously in no time.

The pure ecstasy that ran through her body made her want to scream as loud as she could, but she held it back and instead dug her nails into his back. He was thoroughly enjoying it. The way her nails scraped against his muscular body brought an added level to the excitement.

They went at it for a while. Ryo kept thrusting her body against the wall. She kept digging her nails into him and even started biting him when things got too rough. Both were moaning and calling each other's names as if they were the only words they knew.

Rika could feel her body begin to tingle as the feeling left in her fingers and toes. His mouth had taken to her neck and his hands were playing with her breasts. She gasped a few times and began to shake. She struggled to keep her breath. She bit down on him again as she felt her body begin to do something that she once thought was familiar. And then it happened. Her body had reached its climax and no amount of nail digging or biting was going to stop her from screaming his name at the top of her lungs. And so she screamed his name as her body began to contract on him. Her nails tore into his skin drawing blood. Her back arched and she lost control of herself. For a solid minute her body continued like this and then relaxed upon him. But he wasn't finished with her yet. He thrust into her continuously causing her to have yet another orgasm and it brought him his own.

When they were finished they both stood there for a bit just staring into each other's eyes. Nothing could have ruined that moment.

* * *

><p><strong>I went there :D I was considering leaving the second half of this chapter for the next chapter, because it would have flowed nicely with the next part, but I was like "Ah, what the hell?" So I hope this makes up for the long wait. Tomorrow I might be going to Borders, because soon they will be closing and then I will no longer have my favorite store, which makes me really sad. <strong>

**Thank you for your kind reviews, and the constant support of my story. Be sure to check out my revised chapter (soon to be chapters when I get on it). I did change some things (except the prologue that's virtually the same). **

**Please review, it makes me feel loved :D**

**-Aninika**


	19. Chapter 18

**Not bad for a turn around time (though I wanted this done like two weekends ago). Anyway I'm going on a brief hiatus from this story so that I can catch up on a few things. I have a Midterm wednesday that I heard everyone fails. I also have a game that I have to code in flash for tomorrow. Over mini-break, which starts Friday, I'm going to be interviewing for an internship (wish me luck!) And then I just need a few days to relax. Anyway we're entering the final arc of this story. I'm thinking that this fic will reach about 30 chapters before it is finished. Also things are only going to get a lot worse before they get better.**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 18::.~<p>

**R**yo awoke in his bed feeling a slight pressure on his chest. He looked down to notice a small redheaded female sleeping peacefully upon him. They were both, still, completely naked and only partially covered by his blanket. He ran his fingers through her red hair thinking about their actions from the prior night. She was his, all his, and he was going to make sure that nothing in this damn world was ever going to change that.

She stirred in her sleep- opening her eyes to see him. The brunette smiled when he saw that she was awake.

"Morning." He whispered.

"Mm…what time is it?" She wondered.

"I'm not sure, I haven't had the opportunity to check."

"Ok." She placed her head back on his chest. The heat he was emitting from his body was comforting and kept her from freezing. She wanted nothing more than to stay like this.

"So, are you ever going to tell me about that picture?" He wondered.

"Why does it matter?" She asked. "You saw more of me last night than that picture shows."

Ryo frowned as she looked at him. "I'm curious."

"Then ask Kazu for the issue. I'm not replicating it."

"Oh, c'mon, pumpkin." He pouted.

She crawled on top of him and lay down on his body so that her chin was pressed against his chest.

"No."

"Please?" He begged teasingly. "I just can't help that I have a magnificently sexy girlfriend."

She blushed. "You're not bad looking yourself, knuckle head."

He chuckled. "But you're a model."

"So?" She frowned. "That doesn't make me better looking than you."

They stared at each other for a bit before they heard a startling knock come from his bedroom door. It was then that Ryo realized that he had actually snuck Rika in, and their clothes were lying all over his floor. He motioned to her to stay quiet.

"Yeah?" He called.

"It's breakfast time." Riley said through the door.

"Ok, I'll be out in a few." He wrapped his arms around his love and held her firmly against his body. His heart was pounding like crazy.

"Nervous?" She chuckled.

"I was afraid she heard us last night."

Rika blushed. She had screamed at the top of her lungs. Thinking about that only embarrassed her more. She moved her body off of him and lay down on his bed. He removed himself from it and walked over to where his clothes were lying on the floor. He figured he should clean up the mess.

"You really are perfect." She stated staring at his exposed body.

He blushed slightly. "I wouldn't say that."

"I would." She mentioned. She got out of his bed and walked up behind him.

He turned to her. She was far more beautiful than he had originally realized. Standing in the light that crept into his room revealed more than he could see last night. She pressed herself against him, taking the opportunity to claim his lips as her own, and pushed him against the door.

"Now is not a good time, wildcat." He told her as their kiss started to generate heat within their bodies.

"We could make it quick." She smiled. He made her crave him with his performance.

He chuckled. "Do you think you could keep quiet?" She knew what he was talking about.

She didn't respond. As much as she hated to admit it there was no possible way that she would be able to remain silent especially if he performed in the same manner as last night.

Riley came back over to the door and knocked on it once again.

"Is everything ok in there?" She wondered hearing the thud against the door.

Ryo's face turned bright red. "Y-yeah. I'll be right out!" He planted a kiss upon Rika's lips and whispered, "I'll be back right after breakfast. Once they leave I'll get you something to eat."

That wasn't satisfying for her, but what option did she have? He wasn't going to give her a choice.

"Well you might want to put some clothes on." She reminded him.

"Nah, I figured I'd let them see me as I was made to be." He laughed.

* * *

><p>After breakfast Ryo helped Rika find some of his clothes that would fit her better. She took a button up shirt from his closet, and he found a pair of shorts with a string that she could tie tightly around her waist. Her bra had luckily dried, so she put that back on, but all of her remaining clothes were soaked.<p>

The Yamaki's left shortly after breakfast, so Ryo had Rika hang her clothing outside the squished house, and then he went to work on the roof. Yamaki, himself, had asked Ryo if he would help to repair it since the D-Reaper had caused some damage to the shingles.

The brunette was working shirtless on the roof and this caused Rika to laugh. She had clawed him up pretty good, and he had several bite marks on his shoulders, arms and chest area. Even though he found it a bit embarrassing, it was really hot out, so he really didn't want to wear a shirt.

She brought out two glasses of lemonade and stood by the entrance of the house as she waited for him to notice that she was there. He saw her out of the corner of his eye, but he wanted to finish the shingle he was working on before he came down.

He walked towards her on the roof. "I'll be right down."

"Ok." She said. She then walked over to the porch and sat down upon the stairs.

Ryo made his way over and took a glass from her.

"They didn't say anything." He said to her as he joined her on the stairs.

"I wasn't thinking about that." She said.

"Well I just wanted you to know." He smiled, but she seemed dazed. "What's up?"

She looked at the ground for a bit before moving her eyes towards him. "Are you permanently free from him?"

Ryo just looked at the glass in his hands and wondered. "I'd like to think so. But how would I know?"

"Whatever the case we'll make that bastard pay." She told him.

"Yeah…" He paused. What could he do now? He had no partner to speak of. He had no power in his possession. All he was, was an unnecessary liability. He was sure that ZeedMillenniummon was livid at this point. He desired eminent control of Ryo- he needed the control to ensure his safety. In the confines of the Tamers there was no telling if Ryo was actually safe.

"In any case I'm sure you'll be able to help us out. I'm sure ZeedMillenniummon revealed things to you that he shouldn't have." She stated.

"Yeah, he told me-" Ryo fell on top of her smashing both their glasses on the stairs. He was flat out unconscious on her lap.

"Ryo!" She shook him. "Ryo, wake up!"

* * *

><p>"Rika!" He shouted turning every which way looking for her. But all he saw was eternal blackness except for the light that emitted from his body.<p>

"So you found a way to break free of my hold."

He turned towards the voice. "Show yourself, ZeedMillenniummon!"

"Why do you tremble before me?" The beast asked appearing out of the darkness. "It's not like I can do anything to you without hurting myself."

"Why are we here?" The brunette yelled. What had happened to him?

"I need to speak with you." He said.

Ryo swung his hand through the air. "I have nothing to talk to you about. I'm free from you, and I will make sure that you will cease to exist."

"Do you really think that will happen, Ryo?" ZeedMillenniummon chuckled. "You know as well as I do that I will continue to live as long as you do."

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted.

"Don't be so testy." ZeedMillenniummon laughed. "When did you get so hot headed? You used to be so maintained. I liked that."

"What the fuck do you want?" Ryo asked calming himself.

"My plan is moving forward, Ryo. Soon I will control this planet."

The ground started to rumble as Ryo just glared at the beast before him.

"She will die. I'll make sure of it."

"Not if I kill you first!"

ZeedMillenniummon chuckled again. "We'll see."

* * *

><p>Ryo shot awake sitting upon the sofa. He clenched his chest as his heavy breathing frightened him. But he was more afraid of what was going on. The ground continued to shake, and the brunette looked around the room.<p>

"Ryo!" Rika shouted as she clumsily made her way over to the sofa. "What happened?"

Renamon appeared in the room and stood over in a corner.

"The D-Reaper is expanding further." The vixen announced. "We should seek a better location."

Part of the ceiling had begun to cave in and bits of debris were falling all around them.

"Yamaki had them relocate Hypnos, right?" He asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah, they're working out of Henry's house for the time being." She replied.

"Most of the Tokyo region will be covered soon at the rate it's expanding." He announced. "We should go find Yamaki."

Rika couldn't help but feel distressed. She wanted to know what was going on with him, and he was, somehow, making her feel detached- like he was deliberately hiding something from her.

She bit her lip. "I'm not going until you tell me what's going on!"

He stared at her confused. "Rika, this isn't the time. I'd prefer it if you made it out of this alive."

"Don't you just worry about me, Akiyama! You're making it out alive too."

He grinned. "I know. Now c'mon!"

He took to his feet and held out his hand for her to grab, but she was reluctant.

"Ryo!" She said sternly.

A frown grew on his face. "I'm fine."

"Liar! What aren't you telling me?"

"I've told you everything."

"Bullshit! What do you not trust me or something?" She stood up peering into his eyes. She searched them looking for an answer.

He adverted his eyes away.

She could literally feel her heart sink in her chest. "You still don't trust me…"

He sighed. "Rika…"

She was hurt, really hurt, and so she masked her pain with sheer anger. She balled her fists and walked right by him. He snagged her wrist.

"Rika!"

"Don't 'Rika' me!" She hissed breaking her wrist free. "I fucking had sex with you! I trusted you enough to do that, but you still don't trust me! What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you think I just have sex with any guy I meet?"

"No!"

"Fuck you, Akiyama!"

"Rika, stop it!" He raised his voice. Neither of them cared that the house was falling around them.

"You know sometimes I just wish that… ugh never mind!"

"You wish what?" He asked. "That I was dead? That I never returned from the digital world?"

She grew silent. "I'd hope by now you'd realize that I don't want you dead, but maybe us being together isn't such a great idea…"

"I'm not losing you again!" He said his eyes pleading for her to stay with him.

She turned her head away. "How can you love me if you can't even trust me?"

He grabbed her hand. "Teach me how to trust then, because all I've ever known is that when you trust someone they're going to hurt you."

She searched him. The man that stood before her was her entire world. Without him she couldn't go on. Her friends had all moved on and even her grandmother was gone.

Her face softened. "Trust is something that I'll have to prove to you. And I will."

He kissed her on the cheek. "I wouldn't expect any less from the Digimon Queen."

* * *

><p>"Good you made it." Yamaki said as he greeted the couple at the door. "I need to speak with you." He looked at Ryo.<p>

Rika placed her hands on her hips. "And what about me?"

"We'll talk after." Yamaki brushed her off and began to walk away.

Ryo placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's not all that important. You know you'd be included."

"I don't trust him." She blatantly added. "But more importantly I'm worried about what you said."

Ryo scratched the back of his head. "Don't worry about it. At least not yet."

On their way to Henry's house Ryo had explained what ZeedMillenniummon had said when he was unconscious.

"At the rate the D-Reaper is expanding-"

"I'm aware. ZeedMillenniummon will not get away with this." He assured her. "Why don't you wait in the living room?"

She crossed her arms. "Yeah, whatever. Don't do anything stupid."

"Me? Never!" He chuckled and they went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>Ryo entered the dojo attached to the other side of Henry's house from where he had entered with Rika. In there not only did he see Yamaki but also Takato and Henry, himself. This made the brunette slightly confused. Why would Yamaki call in the other Tamers but not Rika?<p>

Rika sat at the table staring at it as if she really didn't want to be there, which she didn't. In the mean time, Jeri and Alice were talking and Suzie was annoying the shit out of Kazu and Kenta. This was also aggravating Rika.

"So you never came home yesterday." Jeri said out of the blue.

Rika looked up from the table. With a bored stare she responded, "So?"

"Well, it's just that I heard you were released yesterday, so why didn't you come home?" The perky brunette wondered.

"Ryo came and got me."

"Oh my god! You stayed with Ryo?" Jeri startled Alice. The brunette was standing on her feet and using her arms as support on the table. "What did you two do?"

Rika sighed. "Nothing."

"I don't believe you!"

The redhead shrugged. "It's the truth."

"Liar!" The brunette puffed her cheeks and sat back down. "I don't believe you for a second."

"Maybe Ryo isn't interested in fucking her." Alice added.

"Haha, I see what you're trying to do." Rika glared at the blonde.

"I'm not trying to do anything."

The two just glared at each other.

"I don't know why Ryo would want to fuck her." Suzie added. "She's a bitch."

"Shut up Suzie!" Rika growled.

"No swearing missy!" Jeri scolded.

"You're not my mother!" Suzie stuck her tongue out.

"Real mature." Alice rolled her eyes.

Jeri turned her head back to the unenthused redhead. "So what did you two do then?"

Rika raised a brow. "I told you, nothing."

Jeri frowned. "You're lying."

"How do you know?" Rika asked. No one could see through her façade besides Ryo. And she made sure of that.

And as if on cue, Ryo came walking into the room and right over to Rika.

"Yamaki wants to see you now."

Rika stood up from her seat and mentally thought about how thankful she was that Ryo was rescuing her from this boring situation. That and she was getting annoyed that they wouldn't leave her alone.

"So Ryo, I hear you and Rika had sex last night." Jeri grinned slyly.

"Who told you that?" Ryo wondered. "Do you really think that Rika would let me in her pants?"

"Rika said it." She added.

"Well then, I think she lied to you." He smiled. "Right, pumpkin?"

"Don't look at me." She hissed. He chuckled.

"I'd be boasting it around if we had sex. And that's the truth."

Jeri frowned unsatisfied with the fact that they didn't do anything with their prime opportunity, but she should have expected as much. Rika was a wall at times. She just had hoped that Ryo would begin to tear her down.

"Anyway, you said Yamaki needs to see me?" Rika asked.

"Yeah…"

"We've been sitting here forever waiting for him to tell us the game plan. I'm starting to get the feeling that he doesn't want us involved." Alice folded her arms.

"Perhaps, but I'm not entirely sure just yet. He hasn't said much to me." Ryo stated, but Rika could tell that he was lying.

When they left the room a few minutes later she approached Ryo on the topic.

"Why did you lie to them?" She wondered.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned.

She crossed her arms. "Do you think that I can't tell? I know when you're lying."

He should have expected as much. "I didn't want to tell them that Yamaki doesn't want them involved."

"So why did he pull you aside?" She wondered.

"He wanted to discuss something with me. I'd tell you, but you'll find out here in a minute." He placed his hands in his pockets. "You know, I'm surprised that no one has questioned the fact that you're wearing my clothes."

"Don't try and change the subject." She snapped.

He turned his head towards her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

He sighed. Sure she didn't like it when he kept things from her, but it seemed like she was ok with keeping things from him. He didn't understand it, but he also didn't understand her sometimes, and he hated that.

"Rika."

She looked up at him. "What?"

"What's got you in a bad mood?" He asked. "And don't you dare tell me 'nothing'."

She looked back ahead of her. "Suzie."

"What about her?"

"Do you think I'm a bitch?"

"What? No!"

"Be honest!"

He scratched his head. Why did she have to put him in this predicament? "You can be…sometimes." He held his breath hoping that she wouldn't start wailing on him.

She did nothing though. She only remained silent, and that scared him more than if she did start hurting him. At least he expected it, but he didn't expect this.

"Why?"

"We're here." She responded coldly.

"So?" He looked at her.

"Just forget it." She said as she went to enter the room.

All he wanted was to get her to open up to him. Since she found out about his trust issues, again, she had shut herself away and didn't feel like she could reveal everything to him. He knew that one night that she called him- she was having some serious inside turmoil about losing her grandmother, but she never actually brought it up to him. He didn't like this. He knew that she trusted him, so why was she still hiding things from him? Doing that only made him feel insecure about himself.

"Oh and thanks for lying to Jeri about us."

"No problem. I kind of figured you didn't want anyone to know about that just yet."

"Yeah…" She responded and headed into the room. He followed her, reluctantly.

"Oh good you're here." Yamaki mentioned as Rika joined the other two Tamers. Ryo stayed by the doorway.

"So what's going on?" She wondered looking at her comrades, but they just avoided eye contact with her. This made her feel uncomfortable. She looked over at Ryo, but he just scratched his head when she did, and that only reassured her feeling.

"As you are well aware the D-Reaper is expanding rapidly once again. At the rate that it is currently expanding we figure that all of northern and central Japan will be consumed before the week is over. We figure by the end of the month, all or half of China will be gone too and the D-Reaper will be well on its way to Australia." Yamaki stated. "Ryo brought up the fifth sovereign idea again, and we're beginning to think that it may be our only option."

"Ok…" Rika looked suspiciously at her friends. They seemed too quiet about all this. "How will the fifth sovereign stop the D-Reaper?"

"It won't." Yamaki responded. "The fifth sovereign is to stop ZeedMillenniummon. We believe that if we can weaken him enough we'll have the upper hand and may be able to lock him away in his digicore."

Still none of the other men spoke up. It was too weird.

"Right now the Monster Makers are working on a code similar to the D-Reaper, but with the sole intent on destroying the D-Reaper. The program will also have a self-destruct sequence entered, so that when it accomplishes its goal it will dissolve and cease to exist. That is how we will deal with the D-Reaper threat."

"And how long is that going to take?" She wondered.

"That's our problem. So we're counting on the fifth sovereign to be a distraction while they work on finishing."

Still nothing from the other guys.

"Ok, so do we need to go to the digital world?" She asked.

There was a long pause of silence from all parties before Yamaki spoke.

"You will not be going."

"What?" Rika looked at the others. Now everything was starting to make sense. They knew about this already. "I am too going!"

"No!" Yamaki raised his voice. "Takato, Henry, and Ryo will be going to the digital world to convince the Sovereign to allow us to know the location of the fifth sovereign."

"Why am I not going then? What would I do that would hinder this?" She shouted. She looked towards Ryo, but he just continued to look away.

"Rika…" Henry placed his hand on her shoulder. She swatted it away.

"You're going to sacrifice Ryo, aren't you?" She asked drawing two and two together.

"That isn't the primary plan, but…" Takato spoke.

"In the case that the Sovereign believe Ryo would be best off dead than to resurrect the fifth sovereign, then we all feel that it would be for the best. And due to your relationship with Ryo we know that you would only stop this from happening." Yamaki finished answering. "And we can't afford to lose more than one Tamer."

"You fucking bastard." She clenched her fists. "Of course I would do whatever it took to not sacrifice him. I'd do it for any of my friends! How could you all agree to this?"

Henry and Takato looked away.

"And what about you?" She yelled at Ryo. "I'm not going to let you do this!"

"I'm sorry Rika." He sighed. "I've known all along that it would eventually come to this."

"I will not let you sacrifice yourself!" She yelled.

"And that is precisely why you're not going." Yamaki stated. "I know that we'd eventually be able to get you to change your mind if it were any of the other Tamers, but your bond with Ryo is too strong."

"You don't know what you're fucking talking about!" She shouted.

"Believe me, I know. I heard you two last night."

Rika walked right over to him and punched him in the eye. Ryo ran over to her and pulled her away, struggling, before she started beating the shit out of him, and brought her outside the room.

"Rika, stop this!" He shook her.

"No! How could you fucking agree to this?" She shouted. "You told me that you wanted to live. Don't you still want that?"

"It's no longer an option." He sighed. "I wish it were, but no matter the outcome I'm going to have to die."

"No!" She shouted again. "We can find another way!"

"No, we can't!" He told her sternly. "There is no other option. We're not strong enough."

"When have you ever given up on something? You're the most determined person I know." She was so angry.

"Stop it!" He yelled. "You can't possibly comprehend how much worse things are going to get now that ZeedMillenniummon's plan is moving forward. He doesn't care if the D-Reaper understands organic matter. ZeedMillenniummon will kill them all and have the D-Reaper tear up the environment. The end of our civilization is coming. Do you know how many people are dead because of all this? I don't think you understand!"

"Don't fucking yell at me, Akiyama!" She screamed. "What am I supposed to do when you're gone? Did you ever think about that? I have no one once you're gone!"

"Stop being so selfish and think about someone other than yourself once in a while!" He was furious.

She stopped and just stood there for a second. "You think I'm being selfish just because I'm refusing to sacrifice any of you? Does that sound selfish to you?"

"Thousands of people are already dead, Rika!" He shouted. "I can end this."

"Why don't you just kill me now?" She asked. "Because that's what you're doing to me. You're killing me."

"Why are you acting like this?" He wondered as he ran his hand through his hair. "The Rika I know wouldn't act like this."

"The Rika you think you know didn't just have her grandmother die and then hear that her boyfriend is planning on letting himself die too." She stated. "I don't have a father, Ryo. I have no living grandparents. My mother is a whore. All my friends have each other and they don't need me. Without you all I have is Renamon. And before the Tamers I was ok with that, but now I'm not. So if you don't think I understand I do completely! I just don't see the justification in sacrificing one person. You affect so many things and to end it all for the good of humankind sounds selfish to me."

"Then what do you propose?" He calmed down. "Because we're out of ideas."

"We'll get the fifth sovereign to comply with us. He'll weaken ZeedMillenniummon. Then we'll take action."

"There's no way to ensure that it will comply. The fifth sovereign is neither good nor evil. It does whatever the fuck it wants." Ryo stated.

"I understand that, but so don't the other Sovereign. We've convinced them. We can convince this other one." She said. "And we'll make sure the other Sovereign will leave you alone, because all of us Tamers will go. We'll defend you."

"Now that's just stupid." He smiled. It made him glad to know that she really did care about him.

"It may be stupid or even reckless, but I don't know any other way." She tried to laugh, but instead tears started streaming down her face.

He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her tiny body. His head nuzzled right into her hair.

"I love you, Ryo." She said through the tears. "And if nothing else matters just remember that."

He hugged her tighter. It was strange how she had made her way past his hard exterior and right into his heart.

Henry sighed as he approached the couple. "So what did you two decide, because I have a feeling we're not going to be following the original plan."

Rika shook her buried head. "You're right. All of us are going together. We'll give the Sovereign a piece of our minds." She moved away from Ryo and wiped her face. "We'll show ZeedMillenniummon that he really does need to fear us."

* * *

><p>It was incredibly difficult to convince Yamaki that all of the Tamers needed to go on this excursion. What was even more difficult was explaining to the Digidestined that they needed to stay behind to be a distraction so that nothing too drastic would happen.<p>

With that Rika found a new change of clothing, and then the Tamers made their way over to Shinjuku Park where Guilmon had found that one portal. When they arrived they were thoroughly surprised by the fact that not only had the portal grown drastically larger, but also the amount of Digimon coming through it was completely unreal.

"What do we do now?" Jeri wondered as she looked at her comrades.

"We might have to find another way." Henry mentioned though he didn't really like that thought; however, it was better than risking the chance of having to fight all of them.

Ryo looked over to Rika who seemed like she was having some sort of internal conflict with herself.

"What's wrong?" He wondered.

The girl turned her head towards him. "Why do you care?" She couldn't help but think about their argument earlier and she just couldn't understand how he was willing to die for this. But even so she was still angry with him for not telling her that he had this planned all along.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, stop this."

"No, why the fuck didn't you tell me that you were planning on dying? Why do you give a shit about me if all you were planning on doing was hurting me in the long run?"

He moved closer to her. "I never planned on falling in love, Rika. I told Yamaki and Riley that shortly after I arrived in this world. I had no intentions of any of this. I did know that one day I would have to face ZeedMillenniummon again, but I had hoped the outcome would be different. I did always know deep down that I would have to sacrifice myself for the greater good, and I still have a feeling that it will come down to this. Falling in love with you was a horrible mistake I made, and I shouldn't have made it because all I'm doing is hurting you and I can never forgive myself for that."

"That doesn't make me feel better, Ryo." She sighed. "I thought you were better than Kisuke, but now I see that you're really not."

"Don't you ever fucking compare me to him!" He raised his voice.

"At least I don't regret anything I did with him. I may regret dating him, but that's all I regret!" She stated. "I regret ever meeting you. I didn't before today, but I can't believe you. I feel used, Ryo. That is how you make me feel."

His hands tightened around the grass blades as she spoke. Her words tore into his every being, but he knew he deserved it. He wasn't using her, but he understood the reason why she believed he was. Perhaps being allowed to fall in love was the worst curse he could ever be given.

"If you want to die go ahead and kill yourself, but just don't toy with my feelings anymore." She whispered- her voice bled sadness.

He hung his head in shame. Nothing he could do at this point would make up for anything. He had known all along that it would come to this and still he decided to play it off like it would never happen. It made him regret coming back to the real world.

"We're going to have to make our way past them. That's our best bet." Takato announced as the other Tamers and Digimon had formed a circle.

Ryo turned to them and decided to join in, but Rika remained where she was. She was too hurt to want to do anything else.

She didn't understand why Ryo would do this or even what his purpose behind doing it was. How could he make her love him and then decide to throw it all away- throw her away as though she was nothing more than a piece of used paper? She gave him everything: her heart and even her body. But in return, he gave her heartache. Never before had she experienced pain like this. She no longer could believe any words he told her. She didn't even know if she could believe anything he had told her. Her life with him was a lie as far as she was concerned, and she really didn't believe that he in fact did love her. And this made her sick to her stomach. She gave him herself, all of her, and he did this. She couldn't understand.

She wondered why she even wanted to save him. If he wanted to throw his life away he would be able to find a way without her help, and she was sure that he would find a way. She was sure that the original plan was still there, but she wanted to do what she could to ensure his survival. But the more she thought about it the less committed she became. She was almost positive that she would be unable to go on without him, but the more she thought about the less likely it seemed. It was almost certain that she could live without him. He was nothing to her anymore. The prior night was a mistake- a lie that could not be untold.

"Alright, let's go!" Kazu cheered silently.

They all turned to get up when Rika stood straight up with her back to them.

"I'm not going." She said as she clenched her D-arc.

"What?" Jeri asked. "Wasn't this your idea?"

"Now I realize how foolish it was." She stated. "If Ryo wants to kill himself then let him do it. I'm not going to risk my life for such foolishness."

"Rika…" Ryo said.

"Shut the fuck up you son of a bitch!" She turned to him. "I fucking loath you. You knew about this all along and you used me, whether you want to admit that to yourself or not is your problem, but you fucking used me."

"Fine then don't come!" He yelled.

"Come on Renamon, we're leaving." She said coolly and started walking away. The vixen followed her.

Ryo sighed and turned to the group once she was gone. "Go on ahead. I need to speak with her. We'll catch up after."

"Are you sure?" Kazu wondered.

"Yeah, Kazu is right. We might not meet up again." Takato added.

"Just make your way to Azulongmon's kingdom and we'll find you there. Just make sure to avoid data streams." Ryo smiled.

Henry frowned at this but he didn't know what else to do. He had a good feeling that they were going to get lost though.

Ryo parted with the group and chased after Rika. As he approached her Renamon materialized in front of him- bringing him to a halt.

"Let me pass, Renamon."

"She doesn't want to talk with you. I suggest you leave."

He didn't like the thought of a Digimon threatening him.

"I won't repeat myself." He said.

She thought it amusing that he dared to challenge her. She took a stance. Perhaps this would be an entertaining rematch.

Rika looked back. "Renamon leave us please."

The vixen backed off and left the scene.

Rika crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

"I've never used you. Everything that happened between us was real, I promise you that. I did what I could to prevent this situation from happening and in the back of my mind I knew that it would come to this, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. And I realize that you probably think I'm betraying you again, but I'm not. I'm not that 14-year-old boy anymore. I love you and if I knew of any other way to solve this fucking situation I would. Do you really think I want to die? 'Cuz I don't, I just want my partner back and I want to be with you."

"Then why are you throwing this all away?" She wondered. "We can prevent this. Sure it'll be a lot harder, but you'll live."

"As I said before, many people are dead because of me." He was depressed. That realization harmed him.

"Let's stick with my plan then."

"You're plan is going to end the same as the other. Fanglongmon will kill ZeedMillenniummon, and with him I'll die too."

"I will never let you die!" She shouted. "Ever!"

"Rika…" He said astounded.

"I've lost you a few times before, Ryo. I can't do it again." She shouted. "I can't!"

They just stood there for a bit. Rika began to cry and he stared at her wondering what to say- what could he do?

"God dammit! I need to stop crying over you." She wiped her tears away with her wrists.

He clenched his fists. "I'll live, Rika. I don't know how yet, but I'll find a way."

"Don't give me false hope." She scolded.

He shook his head. "Never again. I'll live, and I'm sorry that I dragged you all into this. This is my battle and like any other battle I'll find a way to win."

"How do I know that I can trust you?" She wondered. Was he just setting her up for more heartbreak?

He held out his hand towards her. "Because-" He smiled. "I trust you."

"What?"

"You've proven to me that I can trust you. Heck you've even been willing to die for me a few times. I don't know how I've been so stupid. Now come on. They need you and I need you. Plus we still have to catch up."

She took his hand. "You know sometimes I really hate you."

He pulled her close to him. "Well that's understandable. I can be a bit difficult at times. Plus I deserve every ounce of hate that you have for me. It's my fault that everything came to this, and you're right whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not I was using you. But I don't want you to think that I am anymore. I will do whatever it takes to live, Rika. I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"Don't just do this for me." She scolded. "Do it for yourself."

"Ok, I can agree to that." He smiled.

"Then let's get going."

* * *

><p><strong>Man they argue a lot. I never intentionally write them arguing it just always happens when I make her slightly frustrated, and that's really how I feel like Rika would react in a frustrating situation. She also comes off as a person who would hold a deep grudge even if she were apologized to a million times. Maybe that's just me. Anyway Fanglongmon is the name of the fifth sovereign. I didn't establish it in this chapter because I believe I will be in the next. In the next chapter I'm hoping to shock a few people with where this is going, but don't worry it will get better...eventually. Like I said it's only going to get worse from here. I mean come on I haven't killed off any of the major characters yet. BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!<strong>

**-Aninika**

**BTW thanks for your reviews. Some of them amuse me and most make me smile. **


	20. Chapter 19

**Once again I was gone a lot longer than I wanted to be. I started a new story and I've also started on all my final projects for this semester, so I'm busy a lot. I finally finished this chapter and it did not get to where I wanted it to, so disregard what I said at the end of last chapter. Other than that, I'm still writing (as you can see) just really slowly. I have break coming up next week and I'm hoping to have another chapter finished then, but no promises. I don't quite know what the outlook of my final projects are going to be. Any way enjoy!**

* * *

><p>~.::Chapter 19::.~<p>

**R**ika rubbed her head. She was sitting in a pile of rocks and dirt in a crater.

"Renamon, where's Ryo?"

The vixen just pointed behind the redhead. Rika crawled out of her crater and noticed that he had climbed to the top of one of the rock pillars.

The brunette stood there overlooking the digital world. The sky was dark and the luminescence from the real world was the only light that lit the dry area.

She was climbing the pillar and had almost reached the top. It was rather difficult for her mostly because of her casted arm.

"What are you looking at?" She wondered as he took her hand to help her to the top.

"I'm wondering whether or not to risk taking a data stream." He replied and smiled. "Not that I doubt the mobility of Renamon."

"True, your fat ass might be too heavy for her." She snickered.

"Are you prepared for what we may face?" He wondered.

"With two head strong Tamers how can we lose?"

He smirked but it quickly turned into a frown. "Rika, if anything were to happen to me-"

She clenched her fists. "Nothing is going to happen to you. I'll make sure of it."

"I know but in case something does happen."

"Just stop!" She raised her voice. "I don't want hear about this."

He sighed. He should have expected as much.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He clasped his fingers within hers. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"Let's just forget about it." She looked up at him.

"Ok, so what do you want to do?" He wondered.

"You know your way around the digital world right?"

"Yes." He spoke. "We won't get lost if that's what you're wondering. Why? Do you want to try taking a data stream?"

She nodded her head slowly. "With my broken arm, I don't think I want to try fighting as Sakuyamon. Plus, no offense, I don't think we'd be able to carry you."

He chuckled. "That's fine. Let's take a data stream then. That one over there isn't too far away."

* * *

><p>"I will never get used to that." Rika growled as she dusted herself off.<p>

Ryo looked around the area and found himself in utter surprise. "We're here."

She rubbed her temples. "Define here."

"Oh c'mon princess, are you telling me you don't remember this place?" He chuckled as though she should have.

She looked around but frankly it was too dark for her to actually tell where she was, but it was a pestering ticking noise that bothered her so.

"What is that?" She was rather annoyed.

He chuckled once again. "I never imagined you to be the absent minded type. C'mon, maybe this will jog your memory."

She could never understand why he had to beat around the bush on some things. Why couldn't he just tell her where they were?

"Do you know where we are?" She looked at the vixen.

"Yes." She replied.

The redhead crossed her arms. "Care to explain?"

"It's my old knife." Ryo declared as he approached a small clock from where the ticking noise came. "Don't you remember trying to get this noise to stop and releasing Megidramon?"

She frowned. "I recall not needing your help."

"Of course. Cyberdramon just didn't want you to have all the fun." He responded. "Weird how fate brought us back here."

"Think whatever you want."

"What, you don't like this place?" He wondered.

"Why would I?" She chided.

"This is where we were reunited after a year." He smiled kindly. "That was probably the happiest moment that I had in a long time."

She blushed slightly and then coughed to cover it up. "Anyway we still have a ways to go before we get to our destination."

He raised a brow. "We can camp for the night. I'm sure that's what the others are doing."

"How would you know? I think we should get to Azulongmon's castle first." Rika stated. "Just in case."

"From here to Azulongmon's is almost a full day even if we could fly. By taking data streams it would take even longer, perhaps. It's best to rest for the night and then decide what to do in the morning. The digital world can be a scary place at night."

"This coming from the guy who lived here for six solid years." She perused.

"Even I have my limits." He told her as he sat on the ground. "It's best to get some sleep."

She surrendered. She didn't know the way around the digital world and to wander off on her own would only end up as difficult as it was the last time she wandered off on her own from this very same place. It was best not to argue with him. And so she lie down on the fluffy ground a dozed into a sound sleep.

He sat there for a bit and thought. It angered him how ignorant she could be. There was a serious chance that she may never see him again once they reached Azulongmon's castle, and yet she didn't seem to care. He knew she did, but he really would have liked it if she had actually shown him some emotion other than anger when she didn't want to hear something he said.

"Where are you off to?" He wondered as he looked at the fox.

"Would you like some fire wood?" She questioned.

He shook his head. "Fire is just for light or comfort really. In this part of the digital world it doesn't get any colder than this."

She sat down next to her sleeping tamer.

"You know sometimes I wish I knew what she was thinking." He said aloud though he was really just speaking to himself.

"Rika is as complex as anyone ever could be." The vixen replied.

He looked up at her. "Just like an angsty teenager. But can't she see that I'm trying to do what's best for her?"

"To you it may seem that way, but to her it's a different story. The Rika we all know is crumbling into tiny bits of sand and you are cement that's still holding her together. She's on the verge of snapping."

He sighed. "She can't expect that I'll be around forever."

"She doesn't, but for now she needs you more than you'll ever know. I can't imagine what will happen to her if you were gone. It's best not to think about it, really." The vixen stated. "Until time heals her wounds, she's going to need you to be her crutch."

"She can't continue living this way." He said.

"Until she no longer has to worry about you she'll be like this."

He sat there in silence. It was amazing to him how in a few short months he slowly went from being the person that she hated the most to the glue that kept her from falling apart. She was his everything, but he didn't quite need the same support from her as she needed from him. The way everything was playing out for him was his own fault. But she, she didn't plan on her grandmother dying. She didn't plan anything, unlike him who chose to leave his family all because he was angry with the Digidestined. Their differences were as different as black and white while their similarities were the same exact color.

The vixen lay down next to her tamer and dozed off. Now he was only one left awake, alone, in the dark. And he took that time to think about this situation.

* * *

><p>Rika yawned and stretched her arms out. Her eyes took their time adjusting to the brightness of the morning digital world. She looked around, when they did, and noticed that Ryo was nowhere in sight.<p>

"Where'd he go?" She wondered sleepily.

"I think he went looking to see if there are any data streams within close proximity. He's been gone for a few hours though."

"That'd be like him to get caught in a data stream and then leave us here to try and figure our way around. What a useless human being." She stated angrily.

"Well I'm sorry if I ever get taken by a data stream." He smiled. "Good morning to you too, by the way."

"And where were you?" She asked refusing to turn her head to him since she snuck up behind her.

"Wandering." He smiled as he knelt behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "This place is barren of all life forms."

"Mysterious." She replied unenthused.

He kissed her cheek. "Don't be so cheery. C'mon, I found a rogue data stream not too far from here. We should get going."

"And what if that just takes us further out of the way?"

"It'll be like an adventure. Where's your enthusiasm?" He wondered.

"It died." She shot a cold glance in his direction, but it melted when it hit him.

"We'll get there faster on Kyubimon. Do you still have my cards?" He stood up and helped her to her feet.

"Yeah they're in my back po-" She blushed as he reached around her waist and placed his hand into her back pocket withdrawing the cards.

He sifted through his cards and then handed her one. "This one should work. Oh and here's my blue card."

She accepted them but made sure to pierce him with her eyes. He ignored it and put the cards back in her pocket.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"I enjoy every moment that I get to touch your ass." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. He quickly retaliated by pulling her into him and aggressively placing his lips upon hers. They entangled in a passionate but wild kiss.

Renamon coughed into her paw causing the two to separate. "We should go." The vixen made her way to the left of them.

Ryo laughed embarrassed. Rika coolly followed after her partner.

She turned her head back briefly, "Are you coming?"

A wide smile grew upon his face. "Sure."

"Now where are we?" She wondered as she looked around the barren wasteland.

"Baihumon's territory." He remarked.

"So what does that mean?"

"We're quite a ways away from where we need to be." He mentioned.

"How far?"

"Like we were closer before we took the data stream."

"I knew it!" She huffed. "Why did I listen to you again?"

He smiled smugly, "Because you trust me."

"Regretfully," She groaned.

He chuckled.

"Do you think Baihumon is here?" Renamon wondered.

"Perhaps," the brunette shrugged, "I, honestly, wouldn't know."

"So what now, hotshot?" The redhead asked rather enraged.

He knelt down and with his left hand felt the smoothness of the ground.

"Data streams rarely go through here, so don't get your hopes up; however, if I can find my laptop…"

"You have a laptop?" Rika questioned, honestly astounded that he had such a thing.

He nodded his head slowly. "Did you think that I would come to the digital world unprepared?"

She frowned. "And you never once got in contact with any of us? You fucking were able to this entire time!"

He sighed knowing that this was going to come about eventually. "Rika…"

"No, you'd better have a fucking good reason as to why you didn't say a word for six years."

He stood up and stared at her before he relaxed. "I don't."

"You fucking coward!" She screamed. "I waited day and night to hear from you and you chose not to do anything about it and you were completely capable!"

He clenched his fists. "Are we seriously going to fight every fucking day? I'm starting to get really sick of this."

"Yeah, and what the fuck are you going to do about it? If I'm fucking yelling at you, it's because you fucking deserve it!"

"No, I do not!" He screamed. "I am so sick of you yelling at me all the time. I already told you I messed up royally, what else do you want?"

"You are by far the most idiotic person I have ever met!" She screamed in retaliation.

"Why are you dating me then?"

"I don't fucking know!"

He hesitated to say what he wanted to. Instead he calmed himself down a bit. "Find your own way to Azulongmon's castle then."

"Oh no you don't! You fucking got us here, you're fucking going to get us out!"

"You seem perfectly capable to me!"

"You are just…so…ARG!" She tugged on her hair. "Take your fucking cards, I don't need them!" She threw them at him scattering everywhere. "Come on, Renamon, let's go."

"Way to throw a fucking fit!" He yelled.

"You know, the only reason why we're even here is to find a way to save your ass." She hissed.

"The only reason why all the Tamers are here is because you fucking didn't want to sacrifice me!"

"I was foolish. I'm done." She threw up her hands and waved goodbye.

"Rika, that's foolish and you know it. You're just going to get lost." He sighed.

"Well at least I won't have to see you!" She barked and continued walking.

"Rika!" He ran over to her and snagged her arm. "Stop this!"

She turned back to him and smacked him across the face.

"Leave me alone!"

He released her arm and watched as she headed off in the same direction.

"Please, don't do this."

"Do you really want to do this?" Renamon questioned. "The last time we got lost and then we almost didn't make it out of here."

"Don't you think I know that?" She turned back to Ryo and watched as he began to pick up his cards and she sighed. "Alright, I'll stay. However, you'd better tell me everything. I don't want anymore unpleasant surprises."

"I can't tell you everything. Not yet." He stated.

"Well then do me a favor, don't say shit like that!" She groaned unfavorably.

"Sure."

* * *

><p>They were getting sick of fighting with each other all the time, but really their personalities clashed so much that it didn't seem, to either of them, if there really was another option. They both wanted to say that they were never going to fight again, but there was no way that they could say that. There was little that they knew about each other, and each new revelation just made matters worse. Ryo honestly wanted to tell her everything about him- everything that was going on. His need to keep her out of harm overpowered any other need he had for her, however. While she, on the other hand, didn't want him to be so secretive. For the first time in her life, she felt like she could confide herself in someone, but she knew that he did not feel the same, at least not completely.<p>

Ryo approached the destination where he was picked up by the rogue data stream months ago and found his laptop. He sat down on the ground and dusted the computer off.

"This is no time to be on your computer, hot shot." She crossed her arms as she peaked over his shoulder.

He smiled smugly, "Don't worry, Princess, I only got eyes for you."

She rolled her amethyst eyes.

"I'm creating a data stream to come pick us up at this location and bring us to Azulongmon's castle."

"Since when did you become a hacker?" She wondered.

He chuckled, "I didn't tell you?" He took his eyes off the screen to peer at her.

She shook her head as she sat next to him, "Guess I really don't know all that much about you."

He touched his hand to her lap, "Don't think too much into it. I'll tell you everything you need to know, in due time. Don't think for a second that I don't trust you because I really do. I'm just not ready to reveal things yet."

She stared at the screen wondering when it would be the right time. If they knew more about each other, she was certain that they wouldn't fight any longer or at least not as much.

"There, it's complete." He stated as he punched in a few more lines of code and pressed enter. "Now we wait for it to configure itself and then we're off."

"So what did you do for the six years you were here?"

"I thought I already told you." He stared at her face to confirm. "I monitored the condition of the D-Reaper."

"Yeah, I know that. But that's all you did for six years?"

"More or less." He responded. "Ah it's done. You ready?"

She looked at him as though she really didn't have much of a choice. They had to get to their destination, if for nothing other than to meet with the other Tamers, but what was going to happen once they arrived was beyond any of them. Her instincts called for her to protect Ryo, but Ryo had proven, more than once, that he didn't need protecting. She was the one that did, whether she wanted to admit that or not.

She watched as the data stream descended from the sky. It was eerie feeling that they needed to take the data stream, she was so programmed to run away from them that staying put is what bothered her more than anything. And so the stream descended from the sky and materialized them in front of Azulongmon's castle.

"Well it's about time!" Jeri stated as she made her was over to the couple. "We've been waiting for a day now."

"Sorry." Rika apologized.

Jeri embraced her friend in a hug, "Don't be sorry."

"Are you ready?" Henry wondered.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, for whatever outcome." Ryo responded.

Rika turned her attention to him, but her eyes searched for the ground. There was nothing she could do.

"It's time we finished this battle with ZeedMillenniummon once and for all." Ryo clenched his D-arc. He was willing to do whatever it took.

* * *

><p>"Either you are one brave human or just really stupid." Zhuqiaomon mocked as the Tamers made their way into the chamber.<p>

"Do you remember what we discussed last time?" Azulongmon wondered, pointing his question directly at the brunette.

"Yes, I have one last trick and then I have nothing left." Ryo answered with some will.

"And that would be?" The dragon questioned.

"The fifth sovereign."

"No!" Ebonwumon shouted. "That beast was locked away for a reason."

"He is the only one that is possibly strong enough to bring down ZeedMillenniummon."

"Your death is far simpler. It does not require us to revive that beast!" Baihumon roared.

"What are you so afraid of?" Ryo shouted.

"You could not comprehend, you pathetic human!" Zhuqiaomon roared. "The fifth sovereign's power is incomparable. Even if he should take out ZeedMillenniummon that havoc that he will wreak on your world, well it would be mildly amusing for me."

"It'd be easier if you'd just tell us where the fifth sovereign is. It'll save us time because whether you agree to this or not we're going to find him." Rika shouted.

"We won't help you." Ebonwumon declared. "As much as I detest the idea of killing the human, even I'd rather see that then allow that beast to rise and then possibly turn on us all."

"So then it is settled. We shall kill Ryo." Azulongmon stated as he looked at each of the sovereign for some form of agreement.

"We will not let that happen!" Takato shouted as he, Henry, Alice, Impmon, Jeri, and Rika all digivolved to their mega forms.

"Pathetic humans, even merged with your partners, we are still far stronger than all of you combined!" Zhuqiaomon laughed.

"Then lend us your power!" Gallantmon demanded.

"Yes, if we have your strength then we have a chance." Sakuyamon agreed.

"I'm sorry, Tamers, but we refuse." Azulongmon mentioned. "We can lend you our power in a different way, but as for the fifth sovereign, we still refuse to help you."

"Fine." Ryo stated and turned to his friends. "Let's go. It's useless to try and get them to cooperate."

The Tamers began to head out and Zhuqiaomon ferociously turned his head to Azulongmon.

"We're just going to let him leave?"

"ZeedMillenniummon isn't bothering us. Let the humans deal with their problems in their own way."

* * *

><p>"So what's the plan then?" Terriermon belted.<p>

Ryo looked up at the giant metallic rabbit, "Don't worry, I've got a plan."

"Which is…?" He repeated.

Ryo pulled out his laptop, "Gennai."

* * *

><p>"Well that didn't go nearly as horrible as I figured it would." Henry stated rather calmly as he sat on the ground in a circle with most of the other Tamers.<p>

Rika was busy drawing pictures in the sand with her finger.

"You must be rather relieved." Jeri mentioned gaining the redhead's attention.

"Am I being selfish?" She wondered.

"What? No!" Jeri replied. "Wanting him to stay alive is not selfish at all."

"But what about everyone else? Keeping Ryo alive just means that ZeedMillenniummon will be around for another day. He'll keep killing people."

The other Tamers fell silent.

"Wow, never knew you could be so damn depressing." Kazu stated in his obnoxious 'I'm going to cheer you up by annoying you' sort of way.

"This is serious, Kazu. Why don't you grow up!" She snapped.

"Rika does have a point, Kazu. Even if it is a brutal one." Kenta added.

"Yeah, but Ryo isn't down in the dumps about it. He's doing everything he can to make sure this ends." Kazu looked over at his hero, who was sitting a good distance away from the other Tamers. "Sacrificing Ryo won't bring back all the lives lost."

"Who knew you could say some morally supportive things." Terriermon laughed.

"Kazu's right though. Ryo wanting to stay alive isn't selfish, and you wanting to keep him alive isn't either. Ryo realizes that he may never atone for the deaths that have been caused but he's continuing to fight and that's all because of you. You give him a reason to live."

Rika looked shocked at Jeri and then realized that perhaps she was right. Ryo never had any ties to their dimension before he met the Tamers. That's why he couldn't stay in their world. There was nothing there for him. But since Rika had become more to him than just a friend, he had a reason to stay, to fight, to live.

"I still don't understand why he chose you." Suzie grumbled.

The rest of the Tamers looked over at her.

"Suzie, stop!" Henry ordered.

The thirteen year old stood up. "Whatever, I'm going for a brief walk." And left with Lopmon following.

"Oh to be young and in love." Jeri giggled.

* * *

><p>Ryo walked over to the group after a couple hours. A few of them had dozed off and there were even less remaining awake.<p>

"Well I have good news." His voice woke up most of the sleeping Tamers. Kenta shook Kazu awake. "Gennai knows where the fifth sovereign is located."

"And where would that be?" Takato wondered lazily as he rubbed his left eye.

"Lucemon locked him away on Earth."

"Joy." Alice stated. Her first words of the day.

"How does your eye feel?" Janyu wondered as Yamaki came strolling into their inconveniently set up office.

"Much better than it was yesterday." Yamaki replied. It still hurt a lot. He shouldn't have pushed Rika so hard. "How is the project coming?"

"Well we're still a long way from completion." Babble mentioned. "It should be running in about a week."

"Make it two days tops." Yamaki ordered.

"Guess it'll be ready in two days then."

"Frankly, I'm just wondering if this program is going to work the way we want it. I've checked over these equations so many times that when I close my eyes I still see them." Shibumi said as he jotted down a few notes on a piece of scrap paper located next to his computer.

"It'll work, Shibumi." Dolphin placed a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "It has to."

"I just don't want there to be a fatal error like what happened with the red cards."

"Don't worry, Shibumi. We all have faith in you." Curly smiled.

He nodded in response, "Alright, I'll work my hardest to make sure everything is at 100%."

Riley came running into the room. "They're back!"

* * *

><p>"So you've returned to me." ZeedMillenniummon chuckled as he hovered over Shinjuku. Most of the city was completely covered by the D-Reaper.<p>

Ryo stood atop a building, "No, not exactly. But I did bring you a present."

From behind him rose a giant golden dragon. The beast roared with ferocity and then lunged at the powerful Digimon before it.

* * *

><p><strong>So much conflict! Anyway, I'm getting to the point where I'm writing two stories and having issues maintaining both. Mostly it's the language. This story doesn't have nearly as complex language as the other one I'm writing, so flipping between the two is frustrating to say the least. <strong>

**BTW thank you for all of your lovely reviews. I've stopped working on updating the chapters, currently, due to the fact that I believe I will have an easier time patching up plot holes once the entire thing is written. 'Cuz let's be honest, I've done some very shotty work trying to patch up plot holes. **

**Anyway, c'ya next chapter!**

**~Aninika**


	21. hiatus

I know chapters aren't supposed to be used for this, so please bear with me!

I have not forgotten about this story, I promise you! But due to how busy I currently am, I cannot find time to work on it; however, I would like to say that I am working on a rewrite of this story. Needless to say it will be a long while before you see a new chapter for this story. Thank you to those who have found me on tumblr and told me all the amazing things about how much you love this story and such. It really warms my heart and makes my day just a bit better.

I've set up a fan fiction blog on tumblr, where I've explained why I'm rewriting this story, and other things of that sort. Thank you for all your support and I hope to see you all soon!

Bear with me while I get all the links working. Also, feel free to keep in contact with me on there since I'll be far more active there than on here.

.com (I've also posted everything on queue so I didn't spam tumblr so it may be a while before "About the Rewrite" pops up)

TaTa,

Aninika


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